From Rain to Rust
by StraightOutOfXochi
Summary: Three years after the Shinobi Allied Forces' triumph, and four years after Amegakure's leader Pain died in Konoha's Assault; the Shinobi Union decide to celebrate with the first ever conjoined Jonin Exams! The continent's best Chūnin and their leaders meet in Konoha to celebrate their victory and crown future heroes! But what horrors did the war leave behind? Can they be erased?
1. Road to the Jōnin Exams!

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Note:** This story will be strictly canon-compliant regarding both ships and deaths happening before 'Boruto: Naruto Next Generations', which means there will be spoilers for both the Naruto manga and anime, you've been warned. Other factors of the Naruto canon may be twisted to fit the plot of this story, though (hopefully) none major enough to cause confusion.

Even though the story will closely follow the development of three Original Characters (Namely Yoa, Kaori, and Runa) after the events of Naruto Shippuden, they will likely be the only OCs present throughout (I'll warn you later on if this changes), the rest are characters from the Naruto canon that—in case you don't recognize at first glance—participated or starred in Naruto's different arcs or general plot, and remained alive after the conclusion of Shippuden.

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter One**

_**'Road to the Jōnin Exams!'**_

"Hell, Yoa!" Kaori exclaimed in an odd mixture of a shriek and an annoyed groan. "You could have let a sister know over here!" Her eyebrows were pinched together, almost puncturing the small patch of skin between them, as much as Kaori tried to fight back the blush creeping up her cheeks, the rubor however, couldn't seem to care less once it enveloped her face whole.

The young man that had just taken his shirt off to try and dry himself, was as of now rolling his eyes to the back of his comrade, seeming quite unfazed as he squeezed out the water off of his completely drenched shirt. "You've seen me undress for years by now, Kaori. Are you ever gonna get over it?"

"YOA! You make it sound as if-" the complaints of the girl were drowned out on the mind of their de-facto leader, who at the moment was still digesting the message she'd received.

Three years had passed since the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War went down; thousands of lives were long lost among the lines of the _Shinobi Allied Forces_…

"_Bullshit_" the young leader muttered under her breath at the mere mental image of it all.

_Shinobi Union_ is what '**they**' called themselves now, for all intents and purposes the Shinobi Union served only to the interests and well-being of their members, which meant that just as always the Five Great Shinobi Countries dismissed the safety, condition, lives, and sacrifices of all the smaller villages. Amegakure had always been a troubled land, dating back to their days under Hanzo's leadership and eventual fallout into lunacy, only to be followed up by Pain's iron fist govern and manhunting ways, not to mention Konan's extremely brief tenure that ended on an all-out fight—with little regard for Ame's citizen's lives—that ended with her death; Amegakure had yet to see a generation born into peace and safety. The many generations product of sons and daughters of war refugees living in the village were proof of the constant struggle happening since Ame's foundation.

No efforts had been extended to help rebuild Amegakure, no recognition of the numerous ninjas they'd lent to the fighting cause, no ceremony to honor the fallen, no political guidance for a relatively new village _still_ missing a leader to represent them, no support to feed the hungry and the poor… and now this?

_'The Shinobi Union cordially extends the present invitation to the sovereign __Village Hidden by Rain__, and actively encourages the __City of Ame_ _to send any and all Chūnin Teams or Individuals that they consider fit to participate in the coming __**Jōnin Exams***_ _that are to take place in Konohagakure with the intent to celebrate the third anniversary of the victory of the Shinobi Allied Forces, convey and unify our remaining strength; and most of all, to create new bonds amongst the surviving Shinobi and to strengthen those that already exist. _

_Whomever attends will forever be added to the Shinobi Union database (whether they pass the exam or not) and be called upon if any mission compatible with their skills arises. _

_*The Jōnin Exams will be celebrated only once for the foreseeable future, the objective of the promotions focusing on compensating the damage caused to the Shinobi Forces in the past war. '_

Runa Kashima, the (surrogate) leader of Nin Team K removed her eyes from the running ink of the scroll and glanced upwards, one usually got used to the almost never ending rain in Amegakure, but even to Ame's citizens, when it came to practical matters like reading a simple message on the outside it proved beyond bothersome. "Attention, Yoa, Kaori—" Runa's voice cut through whatever antics her two partners were focusing on. "We've got a new assignment."

* * *

"You seem to have a particular 'spring-to-your-step today, Chōjūrō-kun." The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī, pointed out to her closest remaining escort.

"Hai, Mizukage-sama!" The usually laid back and timid swordsman spoke up with enough enthusiasm to fill his chest and raise his neck.

"I'm excited to show the Shinobi Union what Kirigakure has to offer, Mizukage-sama!" Chōjūrō exclaimed once again, barely falling short of pumping his fist to the air along their way. Meanwhile, Ruka and Kiri—Chōjūrō's handpicked team for the upcoming Jōnin Exams— remained silent throughout.

"Am I right, Ruka-san?" Chōjūrō turned to his teammate with a soft smile, to which the younger Kunoichi blushed in the cheeks—not because of any sort of romantic tension between the teammates, mind you—but because even now, walking their way over to Konoha to partake in the Shinobi Union Jōnin Exams she had a hard time believing her Mizukage had picked _her _of all people as a Chūnin worthy of exposure before the Five Great Shinobi Countries! She didn't want to step on any toes or risk embarrassing herself later on by falling short of her tough talk.

"You are, Chōjūrō." The eldest member of the team quickly came to Ruka's rescue as he flashed her a small knowing look. "The Village Hidden by Mist has entrusted us with the honor to represent them in these coming Exams, we'd be wise not to disappoint them." The medic nin said pointedly to Chōjūrō as his eyes looked over to Ruka; Chōjūrō responding enthusiastically with a nod as Ruka looked down to the ground like a scolded kid.

"But also," Kiri was quick to add, snapping Ruka out of her trance. "We should remember that our own hard work, and the vote of confidence coming from Lady Terumī herself is what made us worthy of such trust in the first place." The dark-haired nin ended with a small reassuring smile to Ruka, who responded with a nod and square shoulders looking straight ahead.

"Hai!" Ruka, by far the youngest of her team—and perhaps the tournament—responded after finally feeling better with herself since leaving the village.

The whole exchange was of course not lost to the vigilant eyes of Mei Terumī, who had watched intently over her representatives as they each took on the experience on their own way; she was proud of the growth that Chōjūrō had since the end of the war, shaping himself to be a fine leader himself; of Ruka to have the skill to measure herself against the best in the continent at such a young age; and of the once cold and stoic Kiri, for showing her how he was able to get past his previous hatred of the Iwa-nins, and for having the will to lift up his comrade's spirit in a moment of doubt.

Yes, Kirigakure's nin were more than ready to raise some eyebrows in the upcoming Exams.

* * *

"Do I really have to do this, old man?" Kurotsuchi complained quite openly for about the hundredth time as they walked their way down the dirt road to Konoha.

A small but amused sigh left Akatsuchi's lips with a soft shake of the head, eyes wandering over to the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

"Couldn't you at least pair me up with Akatsuchi over here?" The Tsuchikage's granddaughter asked as she folded her arms behind her head while she walked. Kurotsuchi was of course excited to go to Konoha's festivities for the Third Anniversary of their victory over Madara; but getting forced to enlist to this show of 'Jōnin Exams' as they tried to pose it, was like jumping through circles in her mind. She was of course happy that peace had lasted this long, and that it seemed to be holding up so well (especially judging from his grandfather's almost ever-present smile as of late), '_Seriously, I've seen him smile more this morning than the rest of our years put together..._' Kurotsuchi mentally complained, but she didn't need the Shinobi Union to tell her that she was good enough to be a Jōnin, much less to make her go through menial tasks in order to 'earn' the rank; all she needed was Iwa's approval! The only reason she wasn't a Jōnin already was because with the rebuilding effort, and so many meetings and movement from the Tsuchikage and the other members of the Union there was only so much time left for things like promotions!

"Yes you do." Was the only response the elder Tsuchikage uttered, not missing a single step as his gaze remained set on the immediate horizon. A subtle smile filling his lips.

"Plus, Akatsuchi is already a Jōnin, he can't take part in the exams." Ōnoki added; which served as proverbial air under Akatsuchi's wings, being somewhat lauded by his adored leader… That and it seemed to shut Kurotsuchi for the moment. Thank Kami.

"UuuuuuuUAUGH…!" Kurotsuchi groaned in exasperation as she slumped all the way down, almost a miracle her feet were still able to carry her forward.

For a second Akatsuchi sighed in honest relief, as him and the caravan traveling with the Tsuchikage to Konoha got their first moment of silence and calm since leaving Iwagakure. _Right_...

"You know _WHAT_?!" The short haired Kunoichi straightened as fast as a whip cracked, jumping right in front of the Tsuchikage's path and pointing her finger right at his face. "YOU'RE JUST OLD AND ARE DOING OLD MAN STUFF RIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOUR BACK HURTS BECAUSE YOU'RE **OLD**!" Kurotsuchi barked with literal embers on her eyes and gnashing teeth that could be easily mistaken by those of an Inuzuka. "YOU NEED A REPLACEMENT, OLD MAN!" she accused the shorter man a last time as her finger finally stabbed the other's prominent nose.

The least… '_experienced'_ people traveling with the caravan were shocked at the young woman's temper and sheer audacity of talking to their village leader like that…  
Akatsuchi and the rest meanwhile merely let the one thousandth sigh of the day and stood there watching the 'loving' interaction between their leader and his granddaughter.

Ōnoki's eyes locked right with the burning ones of her beloved and trusted granddaughter, her slender finger still pushing against his own nose stagnantly.

"You're right, Kurotsuchi-Chan." The elder agreed before carefully removing his granddaughter's finger off of his face. A serious, but not yet displeased look took over the smile he was wearing. "I am old, my best years are long behind me, the Shinobi world is at peace for perhaps the first time in their entire existence—and yes—my back aches and crumbles from the grueling decades of carrying the heavy burden that comes with the title of Tsuchikage." Ōnoki spoke with nothing but sincerity; and even a hint of vulnerability that only the passage of time could teach to a man like himself.  
"And perhaps I am looking for someone to aid me by removing said weight off my shoulders. Someone fit to lead Iwagakure in this brand new world. Someone ready." Ōnoki accepted once again. "But perhaps I need _her _to climb up the ladder of the shinobi ranks as steadfastly as possible, to prepare herself as best as her abilities let her before bestowing such burden to her person." Then, Ōnoki's features softened in a way that one could only perceive by being as close as Kurotsuchi was to him. "_Perhaps_, she needs to complain less and walk more." The Tsuchikage finished with the same tone that any grandparent used after single-handedly schooling a bratty child into submission.

Akatsuchi's smile was as wholesome and sincere as they came once he finished watching the scene that happened before him, his beloved old leader resumed his calm and carefree steps as if he hadn't just let everyone know who would precede himself as the mightiest shinobi in all of the Village Hidden by Stone, all the while leaving his granddaughter glued to her place in the ground with nothing but his words, the rest of the caravan resuming their gait and starting to flow around their promised leader of the future like a river around a rock.

Akatsuchi walked towards her and picked up the backpack that Kurotsuchi had dropped from the shock of it all, the burly man shouldered it like the feather it was to him. He turned the other way and follow the steps of his people. "Finally some silence."

* * *

"How are the preparations coming along, Shikamaru?" The Rokudaime asked candidly from his famous seat behind the Hokage's desk. "Did you work out my request to re-assemble Konoha's teams so that they could fit around any incomplete team the other Kages might register?"

"Tt." Shikamaru pretty much frowned at the mention. "I did, Hokage Sama." Shikamaru replied before dropping the Chūnin's files on the desk for the Hokage's pleasing. It had admittedly been a sharp idea on the Hokage's part to consider that not all villages may have completely filled three-man-teams to partake in the Exams, and they _had _written on the invitations that any sole individuals would have a place to participate as well.

The now regular eyes of the once Copy Ninja glanced down at the files the shadow user had worked on, knowing quite perfectly that they wouldn't need any double-checking or green-lightning since Shikamaru had been the one to work on them. "That's some nice work on your part, Shikamaru-Kun!" The former sensei congratulated calmly as he watched the younger ninja take a seat on a chair nearby.

"More like 'some troublesome work'..." The Nara sighed as his fingers idly played with the lid of his late sensei's lighter, a rhythmic 'zip-zop' of the metal breaking the warm sounds coming down from the businesses and people walking around the village. The topic had been one of major trouble for the Legendary Laze… '_Leave it to Kakashi to find better and more creative ways of denying me of my peace..._' Shikamaru's mind complained as his eyes glanced out the wide windows and towards the cloudy horizon.

Kakashi's eyes smiled cheekily much more so than his perpetually masked lips, not a limb moving the slightest. "I take it that's a positive, Shikamaru-Kun. The more 'troublesome' you find your job to be, the better that means you're doing it."

Even Shikamaru had to crack a small smile at that, letting out a throaty chuckle to go along with it. Being the Chief Coordinator of the Shinobi Union meant a great deal in itself, the months after the culmination of the great war were hard on every nation and village across the land. Konoha itself had already gone through a reconstruction phase, and practically burned through two Hokages and counting in a quite short amount of time. Events like the upcoming Jōnin Exams were exactly what the union needed to keep the momentum of the peace and (hopeful) prosperity going; and of course it all had to be organized by none other than the resident Chief Coordinator and advisor to the Rokudaime Hokage: Shikamaru Nara.

"Well if that's the case you'll be glad to know, Hokage-Sama—" Shikamaru replied with a click of his lighter. "—that something tells me my job is about to get impossibly more troublesome."

_**To be continued...**_

**Note: **Thank you for reading! I appreciate you dearly; if I get at least one comment of any kind I'll release the next chapter as soon as I get notified! I'll repeat the same for the third chapter, and after that I'll try to update weekly! **  
Special thanks: **Special thanks to FF author Jfalcon, writer of the masterpieces 'New Blood', and 'Old Souls', you can find more about him/his stories in the 'Favorites' section of my profile. He remains the primary inspiration in writing this fic, and in his honor, no matter what happens, I'll see (at least this one fic) to it's end.


	2. Enter Nin Team K!

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Note:** In honor and celebration of our first two Favs and Follows here you have it: Chapter two of 'From Rain To Rust'. Enjoy.

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Two**

_**'Enter Nin Team K!'**_

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy festivities—especially this one—since Konoha had more than surpassed everyone's expectations as a host; the sounds of happy Shinobi and civilians could be heard well into the outskirts of the village, food and drink stalls were thriving with customers and attention, bright, multi-colored lights were starting to become visible against the contrast of the setting sun, well-dressed beautiful people flooded the streets in a way that made every other corner of the world feel jealous about; between the flood of civilians from the Five Great Nations that had heard of the news about the celebrations with weeks in advance, and the actual shinobis either escorting their representatives, or participating on the Jōnin Exams, the streets of Konoha had become a truly beautiful collection of people from around the continent. Even those that were actively disdainful of loud and bright parties couldn't help but rejoice in the wave of fresh air that every single group of people that walked through the Konoha main gates brought along with them, this had truly been the first time every single person in the world could feel happy and joyful about overcoming the horrors that the war had left behind, the first time they could actually feel peace, tranquility, and happiness instead of mere relief for getting to _not _die thousands of miles away from home.

But even then, Kumogakure's own Omoi felt the need to distance himself from the proverbial frontlines of the festival and get a couple of seconds of solitude

Kumo's Fourth Raikage, A, and his party were the first foreigners to arrive to Konoha close to a whole day ago already; which meant that for close to 24 hours (it was more like 8, but Omoi wouldn't acknowledge so yet) all of Kumo's nin and representatives were the sole center-point of the vastness of Konoha's hospitality and attention. Now, he was well-trained on the politics of being a Ninja _and _a major representative of his village; but after the twentieth (it was literally only three) team of Genin come running towards you to ask if you could get them your older brother's autograph 'pretty please' _'Who the hell said Darui was his older 'anything', ANYWAY?', _any guy would ask for a break.

Which is exactly what Omoi was getting near Konoha's gates, he'd even taken some solace in some two-sentences chats with other Chūnins doing some patrol time, and a couple of compliments from a particularly jumpy Jōnin in green tights lauding the power of his 'youth'.

Though his solace and peace were, as always (_Really,_ Omoi?), shortlasting.

* * *

The date on the… '_Invitation' _letter was somewhat vague in that there was only one explicitly written, and in that since there were mentions of the words 'Anniversary', and Celebration(s)', to go along with, they weren't sure if they had even arrived on time to the actual Exams or just to their conjoined pity party.

The sky was already showing more light from the stars and the moon than from the last ray of pink sunshine on the horizon, which meant that if they were right and arrived on the day of the first test they'd likely already be failed by default.

They'd barely gotten the letter yesterday, with there not being any actual 'kage' or Shinobi office active at all on Ame, they were lucky the mail-lady had recognized them as they passed and decided to give them the scroll, it could've been there waiting for them for weeks for all they knew! One day more and they would have lost it al-

_'__What was that?'_ The young Yoa Kanamono questioned himself as he looked around at his teammates.

"Kaori what the hell are you doing may I ask?" Yoa asked the girl on his far left. Not one of the three ninjas from Ame slowing down as they spoke.

"Oh! Why, yes you may, Yoa-chan!" Kaori replied quickly, snapping out of her small trance and stopping her murmurs before letting go of the beads on her necklace.

Yoa's eyes and lips narrowed in mild annoyance at the unnecessary use of the honorific on his name, clearly not a fan of it, but also deciding telling her so _again_ to bequite futile.

"I'm praying!" Kaori chirped with a smile as the trio sprinted from tree branch to tree branch comfortably.

Kaori's response earned a very amused but sincere grin from the girl leading their pace from the middle, Runa. But decided to leave the floor to her bickering teammates for now.

"And what in Kami's name are you praying for, Kaori…?" Yoa asked once again somewhat unimpressed but barely hiding the endeared grin pushing against his lips.

"For us to arrive in time, Yoa-chan!" Kaori stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Purposely teasing her teammate with the honorific once again.

Though after a second her smile faded into a frown, shifting her eyes from side to side as if she was being watched, so she could 'whisper' (quite loudly) to Yoa.  
"Can you imagine Runa's temper if we don't…?"

"OKAY!" The woman in question decided that wasn't a path anyone wanted to go down to. As endearing as she could find Kaori from time to time, she would hate it if she had to get into a fight with her before _actually_ having a reason to.

"Remember we're in foreign territory, we probably ARE being watched" Runa tried to put her squad in order. "And even if we're not, we should still be aware of our surroundings."

Both Yoa and Kaori exchanged a silent glance for a second.

"I actually think you're right, Kaori. Maybe I _should _join your prayers this time." Yoa replied to her as if Runa had never spoken.

"I know, right? Can you imagine the way back if we don't get there in time?" Kaori answered with a terrified shudder, also ignoring her leader.

"OKAY THAT'S IT!" Runa cried as she reached for her sheath, not taking into account the thinness of the branch she and her teammates had jumped onto as she pivoted around. Which sent her, and her team crashing down to the floor once the branch snapped under them.

The weight of three near-full grown ninjas was more than enough to make some leaves and dust fly about from the impact on the ground.

"_Nice_ chakra control there, chief!" Kaori 'congratulated' her teammate while lying flat on the ground, extending her arm upwards to give her friend a thumbs up amidst a chuckle.

"Yes, a full-fledged mighty leader alright..." Yoa replied more sarcastically, though it was evident he wanted to chuckle as well.

Runa's eyes were fixated on the sky above—not that she'd ever say it out loud—but Konoha had its perks… This was probably (if not certainly) the first time she'd ever seen a star studded sky, let alone one that looked like _this… _It was also the first time she'd traveled across a forest so immensely dense, she'd seen more animals and plants on their way over here than in the rest of her life back in Amegakure. She briefly considered just lying here, remaining in place with her back flat against the grass, now that she wasn't moving or pumped with adrenaline she could feel the numerous aches in her body, and the hunger on her belly, they'd been fortunate enough to find a river nearby to quench their thirst, otherwise she'd feel her throat burn as well, they came here blasting so fast that they hadn't even had the chance to eat something first or catch a prey along the way… She turned her head over to her teammates, her best and only friends; they'd followed her around faithfully for years by now, everywhere she told them to (which wasn't much outside Ame), every time she told them to, and however she told them to; they'd bled and ate, and sweated, and cleansed themselves, and cried together for longer than she could remember; they were surely feeling at least as miserable as herself, they surely ached and hungered as much, only they didn't show it (they never did); she considered telling them all of this, to simply surrender right here now to be able to send everything to _shit_, to lie there shoulder-to-shoulder with them until no one ached anymore, and until they could no longer feel any hunger, to tell them they needn't worry anymore, that they didn't have to fight and bleed and die for a village that was doomed to hell long before they even existed, that the three of them didn't have to carry the weight of thousands of forgotten souls on their young shoulders…

But she'd be lying to their faced, and both of them would know it, and they'd slap the _living_ _shit_ out of her if she so much as alluded to any of it. She hadn't found them, that was a lie they told themselves, she didn't push them to save their shithole of a birthplace any more than they pushed her.  
She barely even lead them, because that'd suggest that anyone of the trio had more of the slightest idea of just what the hell they were doing in the first place than the other two.  
She wasn't even older than them! (Not enough for it to matter anyway.)  
They quite simply were two lonely girls and one lonely boy the world picked up and picked apart over and over again, till the only way they could keep it all together was by clinging to each other as hard as their bodies permitted… And they all knew it, they just wouldn't say it, ever. Because that'd mean opening a door that no one in their situation—much less a soldier—could let themselves open.

"Shaddap…" Runa groaned as she rolled over and tried to stand up. "I don't even remember the last time I ate… I'm just chakra depleted." She excused herself, knowing neither bought it, but she made her point.

"That actually makes sense, Mighty Leader." Yoa stated as he jumped back onto his feet in one swift move.

"_Ugh_… _Showoff…"_ Kaori teased her male teammate before getting up slowly herself and dusting off.

"Maybe you're right… Maybe we should head back already…" Runa murmured just loud enough to be heard, unfortunately her previous line of thought had worn down her mind along with her body this time.

"But Runa!"

"I'm just saying, we've been at this for hours, we don't even know how far stupid Konoha still is…"

"_But Runa!_"

"I know, Kaori… But we probably missed the First Test already. Really it's no use, don't worry."

"Runa shut your hole and turn around." Yoa deadpanned before grabbing Runa by her shoulders and turning her around.

"Is that-?"

"_**Konoha**_!" Kaori cried in a mixture of elation for arriving and elation for Runa getting it.

* * *

"I'm just sayin', man. I believe it's a little unfair for us to be stationed all the way over here while the party 's going all the way over there." Kotetsu Hagane, the everpresent guard of Konoha's gates complained to his best friend Izumo.

"And for the tenth time: I _heard_ you. But we were given a task and we shall do it. It'll do you better to stop complaining already." Really, Izumo somewhat agreed, but what the Hokage ordered, the Hokage got, specially if he had a say in it.

"No one's even going to come by anymore this late, we should just scurry off and have some fun of our own."

Izumo was starting to tilt towards agreeing with his friend… '_Really it wasn't likely anyone else would come right now, and attacks in a time of peace were pretty much non-existent which meant-...' _ "I should really bet against everything you say, Kotetsu." He interrupted his own thoughts as he made out the shape of three people heading their way, he nodded in their direction. "People coming."

* * *

"Technically yes, it seems we might have missed it completely or pass it by had you not broken the branch." Yoa conceded to Runa, if only a bit begrudgingly.

"So in essence I didn't screw up so much as I 'saved the day'. Right?" Runa shot back with a cocky smirk.

"Now you're pushing it." Yoa replied with a huff as he nudged Runa.

Yoa had to accept that as openly opposed as he was to this plan—more specifically to the fact that (in his eyes) in order for himself and his teammates (and by default their people) to take part in an event like the one they were about to participate on, they would have to metaphorically (if not literally) bow down to another one of the 'Five Great whatevers' whims, to pretend that everything that has ever happened between their village and everyone else's never even happened; even when everyone knew they had sometimes actively worked _against _Ame's own well-being!—just for one second he was glad to see the bright lights coming from deep within Konoha, not to mention the sweet smell of steaming hot food being sold about…

Sadly it was only a second.

* * *

Kaori had only walked a couple of feet ahead from her friends, she was starving, they hadn't had a bite to eat long before they got that famous scroll to begin with, they were literally looking to rest after their last 'call' when they got called to the post to get the letter.

It wasn't that she didn't agree with Runa's plan, afterall her reasons more than made sense; fighting wasn't the only way they could help people from back home (that was true), if they attended the exams they were guaranteed registration to that damn 'Shinobi Union' which meant that they could at least attract some attention to their village's current state; but even if that were true, Kaori wasn't sure if she wanted the 'Union' to turn their eyes to Ame in the first place (especially once anyone stopped to consider the role their former leader had in the past war and conflicts), it could only go one of two ways: they would either help with just what Ame needed (which was food, healthcare and resources), or do as everyone else and smell the blood on the water, attacking the village while it was vulnerable. And if they were that far away from home they wouldn't even be there to defend it in the first place.

The other point Runa made was the fact that if they got registered they could therefore get missions where they'd get '_paid'_—which no one could deny would be a welcomed sight—and that knowing each of their abilities and what kind of 'missions' they'd get assigned they'd be paid handsomely enough to buy and distribute whatever the people of Ame lacked little by little.  
Kaori liked that part; much too often they'd saved someone from violence only to find out shortly after that the same person had died of illness or hunger; she couldn't think of any other sentiment in the world that felt worse than that, how powerless she felt after every time she'd heard the same old speech be repeated to them… and the sad part was that it had happened to them so many times that the effect started to wear off… it was becoming just another part of everyday life they had to deal with: meet kid-help kid-bury kid; meet man-save man-bury man; meet lady-help lady-...no body to bury this time… They were all getting so tired of it, in body and mind, and if this whole 'Jōnin Exams' thing was going to help end that: then so be it, it would be worth it.

"We're going to need to see some identification before letting you pass, Miss." Izumo deadpanned to a girl wearing a spotless long black kimono, oversized prayer beads hanging from her hips and another regular sized set hanging from her neck.

Kaori instantly snapped out of her thoughts, being both surprised and taken aback by the apparition of a figure towering in front of her all of the sudden.

"I'm sorry, I believed this to be a public event?" The brunette stated, not letting much room for an argument.

"You believe right, Miss. But I can't let any person from outside the Five Shinobi Nations pass without some Identification first." Izumo replied, noticing she was wearing Amegakure's symbols. "Hokage's orders."

Kaori's blood boiled at the sound of those words, though she didn't let any of it be seen outside of a little clench of her jaw for a second. "Then you'll be happy to know I _am_ from a _Great_ Shinobi Nation." Kaori replied in a more hostile, yet still composed tone. "Now if you'd excuse me." She added before swiftly sidestepping the standing man.

"Actually-" another Konoha figure interjected her both physically and verbally, appearing to her side immediately. "-me and my partner will have to insist." Kotetsu replied to Kaori as he held her arm.

"Let. Go. Of my arm." The woman from Amegakure, who was in the middle of the Konoha Chūnin _ordered_ them.

"I'm afraid we're gonna have to ask you to-" Izumo started but was interrupted as another two shinobi sporting Amegakure's symbols appeared quicker than a pair of summons.

"Kaori no!" Yoa quickly reached to snatch his teammate's free wrist before it reached her necklace, Runa meanwhile caught Kotetsu's arm in an iron grip and sent a scorching shock of lightning up the limb; making the Leaf Chūnin recoil a good few feet back from the Ame group.

"She _did_ tell you to let go of her arm." Runa's voice replied with a stern warning, standing pretty much back-to back-to back with her squad.

"_Kotetsu_!" Izumo cried before unsheathing his half of the twin weapons he and his friend wielded.

"Oh, you _really_ don't wanna do that." Yoa advised his Konoha foe with a mocking tone. Halfway extending his right hand before small particles of 'debris' started to swirl onto his palm.

"I'm fine Izumo!" Kotetsu replied as he stood up from where he had landed, looking over at the completely burnt fabric on the arm the Rain Kunoichi had shocked.

Izumo was calmed enough by the sound of his friend's voice. This didn't need to escalate anything any further, much less while Konoha was the host of an event of _peace_. "How about we all lower our weapons-" Izumo offered as he went to sheath his blade.

"How about next time you don't touch people without their permission?" Yoa whispered from behind Izumo, holding a shiny, black blade; so sharp that the mere contact with Izumo's skin made a tendril of blood run down Izumo's throat.

Izumo's eyes shot wide open instantly, his body freezing by pure reflex. '_I didn't even blink! Did I_?'. "What do you want? What are you doing here?!"

Kotetsu surely didn't blink, he had his eyes dead set on this group of Amegakure kids as soon as he stood up, but even still the only boy of the group had moved at a speed so fast Kotetsu didn't even notice he was gone until Izumo shouted. He didn't have a choice, he had to call for help, if the shock the girl gave her, and how fast that boy had rendered Izumo defenseless was anything to go by, these kids weren't messing about. Though the worry of leaving Izumo there to possibly be killed in his absence didn't seem ideal either.

"_Alright enough_!" A strong voice cut through almost as fast as the blade he carried; Omoi slashing toward Yoa with lightning quickness.

"Not quite yet, tough guy." Runa smirked as she crossed blades with Omoi; her black Katana being visibly identical to the dagger Yoa still held against Izumo's throat.

Omoi's eyebrows furrowed when his attack was met with another, his face staring right at that of his attacker through the clashing blades; Runa's smirk changed only to wink at the man before taking hold of Yoa's vest with her free hand, snagging him back to where Kaori stood in a blink.

Runa sheathed her weapon then and there, in the middle of Omoi, Izumo, and Kotetsu; serving as a non-verbal cue for her team to do the same and lay-down the arms.

"Pardon the rude introductions," She smiled broadly and 'amicably' as if none of what just transpired happened. "My name is Runa Kashima, leader of Nin Team K of Amegakure. Nice to meet you."

_**To be continued...**_

**Note: **Once again thank you for reading; next chapter cointains the first taste of our dear _'Shika/Tem' _pairing! So if I get one written review I'll release it as soon as I get notified! Stay sharp!


	3. Troublesome

**Disclaime****r:** I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Note:** This is a more lenghty one. Enjoy!

* * *

******From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Three**

_**'Troublesome'**_

Word traveled quickly.

But word also happened to travel discreetly. Especially when it came to a physical altercation where weapons were drawn and blood was shed, oh; and also a physical altercations where weapons were drawn blood was shed, AND that involves ninja from three different villages WHILE the hosting Village celebrated peace between countries as a whole. Yeah, there was that too…

Omoi was fortunately intelligent enough to not panic and blow the whole scene that had happened before him out of proportion. He could already imagine the life of it's own that this could take, the conflict ultimately transforming itself into the ultimate political catastrophe the Shinobi World had ever laid their hands into! Konoha's streets would turn into a hellish abysm where Shinobi's last ever fight between the elite of the elite would turn ally into foe, and where blood would soak the soil and paint the mountains scarlet red for the unprotected generations to come who'd succumb without the structure of shinobi society to hold their heads above water and protect them against-...! (That was mostly Omoi being Omoi though…)

But even after removing the proverbial weeds that were Omoi's 'over-exaggerations', Nin Team K did still find themselves into some deep crap once the situation had died down and they were (stealthily) taken to the Hokage's office.

Luckily the first person Omoi had the wit to call was the man who was literally responsible for all of the Shinobi-harboring-Nations to _NOT_ turn the mountains 'scarlett red' with blood; the man responsible for single-handedly keeping the peace between nations intact: Shikamaru Nara.  
And for the first time in a very long time, the Chief Coordinator of the Shinobi Union was trembling with stress as he blasted past the door of the Hokage's office, the single moment he'd heard there had been an attack right inside Konoha's gates and that one of Kumo's most trusted representatives was involved, the fear of Kami entered through his veins and the _LITERAL _weight of the _ENTIRE _world came crashing down on his shoulders.

"_What happened? _" Shikamaru questioned the six people that were currently in the room. An already halfway consumed cigarette firmly wedged between the index and middle fingers of his left hand.

Everyone but the three Ninja from Ame raised their eyebrows at Shikamaru's never-before-seen temper, one could almost hear Shikamaru's gritting teeth above the bustle and uproar coming from outside. It took everyone a while to even dare to explain the situation to _this_ Shikamaru.

"_Nothing_ at all." Yoa deadpanned with something all too similar to open disdain for the whole situation.

"What do you mean '_**nothing'**_?!" Izumo barked immediately in response, feeling the attitude on the younger man who happened to be inside _The_ office of the Hokage, in front of all the past Kage's portraits, beyond infuriating. "_**You**_ put a knife against my throat! And that was _after _your little friend scorched Kotetsu's arm!"

"She told you not to touch her arm." Yoa replied flatly once again with a shrug, not even bothering to face any of the people in the room as his eyes intently remained on the portraits of each Hokage, past and current.

A thousand thoughts a minute passed through his mind, a thousand faces, some known some completely made up, flashed by, all of them wearing the four lines of Ame as a symbol… Faces of former friends, faces of Senseis, faces of family... After a while there a couple of them started to sport a Grass patch symbol on their foreheads, another couple had a Star engraved on their headbands… How many times over bigger the army of Konoha must have been than the one of those villages? 10 times? 20? 100? It wasn't even a fair fight, he _knew_ that a lot of those times it wasn't even a fight at all… It was only powerful men taking what they wanted from those that couldn't help but die defending it; how many innocent men, women and children had these men been lauded for killing? How many-

"Yoa…" Runa squeezed her teammate's shoulder, knowing perfectly well just what the younger man's mind was thinking through at the moment.

He immediately snapped out of his spiral, turning around as Runa's hand retreated to its owner. "Really you lucked out we got there in time, _Izumo-kun." _Yoa finally faced the general group of people.

"I don't think vague threats are a good way to go about this…" Shikamaru retorted from his place near the door, cigarette being idly twisted between his fingers. He could already see why and how their new guest's attitude could take part in initiating an issue like this one, especially the guy with the long braid running down the middle of his back.

As upset as Shikamaru was at the moment, he knew he had to take a breath—one that wasn't accompanied by smoke of any kind—and analyze the situation as best as he could. So he did just that.

He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, feeling the nervous jitters already fade away little by little. '_Okay, Shikamaru. Facts first, there were six shinobi, two leaf, three rain, and one cloud, no casualties, no major injuries, let's not blow this out of proportion. Both Izumo and Kotetsu were doing their job, but perhaps went about it the wrong way. If Omoi, a high level Chūnin himself felt the need to reinforce two trusted Chūnin-level Shinobi that means that they probably were on the losing side of this; which means that the three from rain have to at least be Chūnins themselves. If their objective was to attack it's highly unlikely that they'd simply use the front door to get into Konoha. Which means their first impulse was probably not a hostile one, and since Konoha did send invites to every available village within its reach then the most likely scenario is that the three Chūnins from rain simply intended to attend the festival or Exams and got caught in a misunderstanding, but if that's the case…' _

"So," Shikamaru's meditation finished, he put out his cigarette against his lighter and tossed it to the trash. For everyone else not even a second passed between Shikamaru closing his eyes and reopening them. But for the legendary laze that fraction of a second had been enough to thread this whole issue together. "I imagine you got an invitation on you, don't you?" Shikamaru approached the Ame trio with an open hand.

Kaori raised an eyebrow at the sight of the first competent person in the Land of Fire to speak to them so far. "We do."

"Can I see it, then?"

"Yes you can."

"Can you _hand_ it to me?"

"I don't have it." Kaori replied, sharply turning away with her arms crossed.

"Can _whoever_ has it-" Shikamaru muttered, already getting annoyed by her games.

"Easy there… No need to blow a fuse… _Again…_" Runa cut in, pointedly looking over at Kaori as she handed over the scroll from under attire, out of her trio she was the one dressed more traditionally as an Ame Nin, using a black full body tight thermal layer, standard dark outer layers and what used to be Ame's Chūnin vest over it, with a cape covering her fully; her whole style being a noticeable nod to that of the late Hanzo of the Salamander.

Shikamaru mentally thanked the girl that handed her the scroll. Unrolling it at once to find the paper showing signs of moisture and the ink on it to be somewhat faded and run for the same reason. '_Figures.' _He thought, but looked over it fully and didn't find any signs of forging.

Shikamaru sighed deeply. "Looks fine enough. But Amegakure is only 18 hours away, the invitations were sent weeks ago. Why did you arrive today in the middle of the night?"

'_So we were correct' _The invitation had been waiting for them for weeks already on Ame. "Oh, well you see; _**we**_ got the scroll about 12 hours ago, Amegakure's found a bit of an _'inconvenient'_time for about the last… Yeah, 4 years." Yoa replied in a not-at-all deceptively sarcastic undertone.

"Plus you know, small villages with murdered leaders aren't well recognized for their political savviness, or for having trusted council leaders to restore order and Shinobi offices after lauded war-heroes in orange jumpsuits kill their leader." He drove his point home, knocking twice on the surface of the Hokage's desk, earning a clenched jaw from the two Chūnin from the leaf. "But of course you already knew that. So let's just say we were lucky the post-office lady hasn't yet died of famine or illness."

The Nara more than got everything his 'guest' ninja was telling him, it wasn't something that had gone over their heads this past few years; but it really did take hearing it from someone affected by it—perhaps even to have it put as bluntly as this _Yoa _guy did—for the point to drive home.  
And even if he wanted to argue against every point this troublesome trio had made (and he _**could **_after all) he had a job and duty to fulfil over anything else; and that was to make sure everybody kept their damn shit together and avoid any minor conflict to escalate into another all-out war.

"Fine, I'll just be needing some identification to prove you three _are_ Chūnins. That's what you're here for, aren't you? The exams." Shikamaru cut to the chase right away, wanting to put an end to all this as fast as possible… He'd left a literal hot mess of a blonde psychopath waiting back for him at the party. And spending more time here wouldn't help her mood any good.

"We are. Here you go." Yoa handed Shikamaru three thick rolled up scrolls right away, not wanting to be here any much more than him.

The leaf Jōnin didn't even bother peeking over the scrolls this time, he was just tired of this. "Fine, then I'll give you your registration cards and sleeping arrangements and you can go enjoy the festivities… or whatever." Shikamaru replied already feeling his thin political correctness fade away by the second.

"What do you mean by-?!" Kotetsu tried to argue but Shikamaru shot it down with a look.

"They are our _guests_, Kotetsu. We invited them and we'll take care of them." Shikamaru near snapped right then and there effectively shutting down Kotetsu's attempt, but he still managed to give Ame's trio their paperwork in peace.

"Then we'll be on our way…" Runa spoke for her team as each of them pocketed their card and Runa the sleeping arrangements. Without any more ceremony she and her team turned heel and walked right out the door.

* * *

"I can't believe you were flirting with that Kumo ninja back out there." Yoa told his leader in a clear teasing manner. He was trying really hard to turn the page over for the shithole of a day this had been.

"Why?" Runa questioned as if his question didn't make sense. "His tan is even better than yours, and he knows how to handle a blade quite well. That's hot."

"His tan _is_ really good." Kaori nodded in agreement as they walked down the Hokage's hallways.

"They're not 'tans', it's our skin color!" Yoa corrected them for a second, knowing fully well his friends were just molesting him. "Plus he's probably gotten sun every day of his life, I only have rain and clouds and rust." He admitted, which made the trio share a soft laugh in their places, finally having a moment to relax knowing they had gotten there in time and were out of trouble.  
Though other pressing matters presented themselves as all three of their bellies grumbled fiercely. They all shared a miserable glance.

"Food?"

"Food."

"FOOD!"

* * *

"Quite a night you're having, Shikamaru." The Rokudaime Kakashi teased his advisor before he took a seat on his famed chair.

Shikamaru was torn between glaring at Kakashi and flipping him off… but that wouldn't be wise with a Ninja from another country in the same room.

"Hokage-Sama." Omoi, respectfully half bowed in his place. "Pardon my intrusion. May I ask why was I required to wait for your arrival?" The Kumo Chūnin finally voiced the question plaguing his mind for the past half hour.

"Oh, right." Kakashi turned to Omoi quite informally, he stood up. "I wanted to personally thank you for your labor this night, not only in aiding two of Konoha's own ninjas in distress, but also for being the primary vehicle for this situation to get put under control before any loss of live or otherwise could happen." Kakashi stated before he himself nodded a light bow to the Kumo Nin. "Konoha and his Hokage are deeply grateful for your actions."

"Yeah, man, you really were a lifesaver out there…" Shikamaru agreed.

Omoi was actually a bit shocked by it all, he wasn't dumb enough to think this was just an everyday type thing; but to put it mildly it wasn't often that one got a bow from the Hokage himself, much less if that Hokage is Kakashi Hatake. "I only did what was required of me, Hokage-Sama." Omoi bowed once again.

"No, we really owe you one, Omoi." Shikamaru insisted. "Thanks."

Omoi looked from Kakashi to Shikamaru and nodded with a small smile. "I'll take my leave now." He reached for a brand new lollipop from his pocket and put it in his mouth before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"I like the guy." Kakashi pointed out to no one in particular.

* * *

She was trying really _**really**_ hard to be angry right now…

In all fairness she **SHOULD **be angry!

Temari of Sunagakure should be a stomping mess of a woman right now; this was the fourth consecutive 'date' she and Shikamaru had agreed to go onto and they had been interrupted _again_. And this time it had been her idea! Technically this was _her_ failed date...!

But somehow, under the bright moonshine and stars, with distant sounds of laughter and joy coming from Konoha's market and front of the Hokage's residence (were most of the foreign dignitaries dined and conversed together in the open where everyone, shinobi-and-civilian alike shared the night with them) reaching her eardrums; Temari couldn't help but smile softly and sincerely as her feet dangled under the swing she was sitting on. Even she could not find motives to get angry right now, she'd spent all night with her-... with Shikamaru, and everyone from Suna, Konoha and the rest of the villages were a drink short of holding each other's hands and singing Kumbaya to the air!

Temari chuckled at the mental image and took a lick of the ice-cream cone she had in hand.

"I just hope lazy ass makes it back at all…"

* * *

"Hokage-sama, if you don't mind I'm in a bit of a-" Shikamaru muttered, turning to the door.

"Ah, ah, ah…" Kakashi verbally stopped his advisor from leaving. "I still need a report of the situation, Shikamaru…" The Hokage made it known right away, but also got a _pretty good _idea of why Shikamaru had that much urgency. "But you can give it to me tomorrow, just let me know what we have in our hands with these three." Kakashi nodded over to the three open scrolls on his desk that served as the Ame's trio ID.

'_Again. Interrupted again. Why does this always happen to me? And why always when I'm with Temari?! That troublesome woman attracts so many problems they're starting to rub on me! ' _The Hokage's advisor pinched the bridge of his nose in pure and honest surrender and exasperation, deciding it was for the best to just go along with it and amuse his boss.

"Well, as you surely already read they're three highly skilled Chūnin from Amegakure—" Shikamaru stated, back in full-business mode. "—they seemed to imply that ever since Naruto's fight against Pain their village suffered a turn for the worst."

"No appointed leader, a shortage of victuals and other supplies, closure or suspension of Shinobi offices..." Kakashi interrupted his advisor as if completing his sentence.

That got Shikamaru's attention. "Exactly, but how did you-"

"Amegakure is a strong village, they've always found ways to harbor strong shinobi in their ranks—" The former Copy-Nin replied immediately once again "—but unfortunately for them they are still a small village with no backing from a Country's Lord." Kakashi explained. "This is a common occurrence for smaller villages after times of war even when their leaders _don't _get killed… I can only imagine what's been going on over there for this past four years."

That statement didn't ring right for Shikamaru. "But if we already knew why didn't we do something about it? Why didn't we help them?"

"You already know the answer to that, Shikamaru." Kakashi replied firmly to Shikamaru. "I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question better than you. The glass floor peace stands over is brittle, one wrong move, one misunderstanding, one half-decent motive _and all ends in war_."

Shikamaru felt like interjecting, but felt like there was more coming his way.

"A village like Amegakure would have a hard time waging war against any countries to begin with, much less so after losing it's leader. One of the Five Great Shinobi Nations on the other hand—" Kakashi let the sentence hang in the air.

"But that is not right-!" Shikamaru replied, refusing to agree with the motives as of yet.

"It is not."

"Then why do-"

"—_Because _" Kakashi stopped what he believed would become a tirade of arguments. "Planting and nurturing the peace between the Five Great Shinobi Nations was far more imperative for Konoha's interests than finding the time and resources already lacking in our own rebuilding efforts, to help another village in need." Kakashi himself knew it was a crude and awful way to see things, but it was also a real one; one not too different from slashing an enemy ninja's neck.

"But I saw Ame ninja with my own eyes fighting and dying in our war!" Shikamaru finally raised his point. "There might have been less, but they died the same any other from Konoha, or Suna, or Kumo!"

"They did, and neither Suna, nor Kumo, nor the others helped them either…" Kakashi answered in a more leveled but firmer tone than the younger Jōnin. Purposely leaving out the fact that it was 'technically' their war too. "This is just the way war works, just the way our world works, Shikamaru." Kakashi finished his lecture with a tone that implied so.

Shikamaru felt sick in his stomach, he didn't want to acknowledge knowing about this, being an active part of a world that permitted this. "There is one detail with the Ame trio's 'ID'." Shikamaru changed the subject.

"Apart from the fact that this are Shinobi Registration Profiles and not actual IDs?" Kakashi shot back.

"Yes,—" Shikamaru half smirked at his boss' quick wit. "—yeah that was my bad, I didn't even open them to check first…" He accepted, but also noted that having a so thoroughly written and detailed profile (that was more often than not a village top secret) of three troublesome and powerful shinobi couldn't be a hindrance of any kind… Even if it was a mild contradiction of his earlier argument.

"I assume you also see it as a bonus anyway…" Kakashi followed his line of thought.

"Yes, _but_—" Shikamaru approached him, pointing at the corner of one of the profiles. "—look at the date."

Kakashi did so willingly, taking a second to glance up back at the other Jōnin. "_Huh, _so they gave us profiles that are three years old?" Kakashi asked with his ever-present cool and aloof tone.

"Exactly, I tried not to make too much of it… But considering this are official profiles that are often kept secret by the villages I couldn't ignore that there wouldn't be any case in faking stats that high on their Databook, or in their mission reports." Shikamaru pointed out to Kakashi.

"And since they're three years old that means there's three years of either progress or regress not listed here…" Kakashi once again caught Shikamaru's point.

"Judging by how the one with the bandages looks from those pictures to now I'd lean towards 'progress'..." Shikamaru replied with a subtle cocky smirk; referring to the way Yoa bandaged his biceps and wrists on his otherwise naked arms, how that guy managed to wear a vest and undershirt only, while coming from a place famous for its everlasting rains was beyond him.

Kakashi had—just as any good ninja of his level—stolen a glance of the aforementioned Chūnin team on his way here, and he had to agree. Each nin from the trio looked much more developed than on their pictures on the profile, it just was more noticeable in a guy that had gained the muscle definition and general size he did from the pictures. "It _is_ always wiser to err on the side of caution." Kakashi agreed with a nod. "I'll have a team from intelligence make a detailed profile with the mission reports on these."

Shikamaru couldn't agree more with that decision, having the ANBU take a look at those reports was as good as they'd get right now. He let out a breath and directed his hand to his stiff neck. "Now, I believe that would be all on my part, Hokage-Sama." Shikamaru turned around and stepped to the door.

"_Shikamaru. Wait._" Kakashi's stern tone came back, which almost broke Shikamaru's will and back then and there.

"Yes?"

"Say 'Hi' to Temari for me." The Hokage happily chirped with his now patented eye grin.

* * *

'_Maybe I should go already… It's been almost an hour now, if he were to- OI here he comes!' _The Royal blooded Kunoichi from Suna stood up and snapped out of her thoughts in an instant._  
_'_What does he think leaving me out here to wait for him?! HE's lucky I waited at all, and lucky I will have to actually TRY to be mad at him this time!'_

Temari noticed Shikamaru was actually fast-walking towards her rather than doing his usual hands-in-my-pockets-slouched-over-lazy-ass thing he tried to pass as a walk this time… Which in a way warmed her heart more than she was comfortable admitting… And that was something she couldn't show at the moment! She needed to be angry! (Or at least act angry...)

"Took your time you lazy pineapple haired ass!" '_Yes! That was a good start_.' "Look! My Ice-cream is practically melted alrea-"

Never had Shikamaru been more glad to have an annoying, troublesome, complicated, aggressive, and powerful woman yell at him so badly. And that realization both scared his younger, more immature self shitless; and roused his present self into action.  
If they didn't have geography on their side, and if they didn't have time on their side, and if they didn't have goddamn Kami on their side then he sure as hell was gonna make sure none of it mattered damnit!

Which is how Nara Shikamaru found himself wrapping one arm around Temari's waist, holding the back of her head with the other (somewhat for fear he'd misread the situation and needed to buy himself an extra second to run), and connecting his lips with hers on a searing kiss that completely contrasted with everything he was either known for or actively stood for.

Temari was sure she tasted like the vanilla ice-cream she had just dropped to the floor in order to wrap her hands around his neck, and he… He tasted faintly of a cigarette brand she'd smelled on him before, a cigarette brand she'd sternly told him not to smoke anymore... but that would have to wait, because at the moment she didn't mind, the smell and the taste was so… So Shikamaru! If anything the realization made her deepen the kiss further, pulling him down to her height hungrily, moving her lips against his in the most deliciously rhythmic manner she (and he) had ever experienced.  
She secretly thanked Kami he'd been the one to make the first move that was years in the making by now, really, she now realized she should have gone over to him and made-out with Nara Shikamaru right after their Chūnin exams showdown if she'd been missing this all along.

Their lips parted only once neither of them could keep breathing each other's air and their lungs cried for help, but even then and after the quickest breather Shikamaru felt the need to peck her lips needily a couple of times, kissing her deeply after it for a couple of short seconds that left the Suna Princess with warm cheeks and an endearingly pleased smile adorning her lips.

"You made me drop my Ice-cream…" Temari whispered with her eyes still closed, brushing her nose against his before pecking his lips in the same manner he had hers.

"I'll buy you another…" Shikamaru whispered through a chuckle, relishing in how completely she'd shifted his mood around, it was more welcome than frightening by now.

"Screw that—" Temari replied in more 'Temari' way. "—let's go to your place."

The Legendary Laze never moved that fast in his life.

_**To be continued...**_

**Note: **Chapter four will be posted next week, and the fifth the week after that and so on. As always thank you for reading and have a good one!


	4. Know Your Enemy

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Four**

_**'Know Your Enemy'**_

Shikamaru was known for many things: the most prominent one being the fact that by any existing measure the guy was a genius. There was of course the other thing he was well-known for: being a lazy ass pineapple haired (former) mess of a man; and as the single-leading figure in being a lazy ass pineapple haired (former) mess of a man, a good amount (but certainly not enough if you ever asked him) of his teen, pre-teen, and post-teen years were spent in bed.

One thing he had learned throughout those aforementioned experiences of him, was that quite honestly—when it came to lying around—the less people the better; if by some misfortune Ino or Chōji happened to appear inside his room while he was in bed then that'd mean that his much appreciated time of rest and peace was coming to a close. Whether that'd be because Ino had decided to drag them through another one of her shopping sprees (and by default decided that she _had_ to get them something as well); or because Yakiniku-Q had a 2x1 on it's salted beef tongue and Chōji _had_ to go with his teammates because, after all, Yakiniku is still Team Asuma's (un-)official restaurant, so that meant he couldn't go by himself and all that…

Thing is; _yes_ Shikamaru is by all existing measures a genius… and _yes_, his days of being an apathetic good-for-nothing were long behind him by now, which meant he was maturing, growing into himself and learning that even absolute geniuses like himself often got shit _absolutely wrong_ all along…

Point case being how he'd just single handedly spent the best night of his life while being on the same bed with the most troublesome and complicated human being alive, getting tangled on her blonde mess of hair, getting tickled on the neck by her two gravity defying pig-tails, getting bruised, and grabbed, and tugged by her rough, calloused hands, and pinned down, and… _other things, _other very _**not**_ troublesome things.

Though to be fair—and considering they had years of teenage hormones boiling over in desire for each other—it had been a miracle they didn't strip down on their way to his place and 'released' all of their hormones then and there on the street. It was even **more** of a miracle that they didn't do so once they were _inside _his cozy apartment, _by Kami_ they were close to it, deliciously close, but they also agreed that once they opened that door there would be no army on the land that would be able to make them close it again; and they still had a job to do that would require them to get out of Shikamaru's bed sooner or later.

"No," Shikamaru stated as he grabbed Temari's wrist. "We still have hours before we're needed over there."

Temari inwardly smiled at her-... _at Shikamaru's _actions, had he not moved over to grip her wrist she wouldn't have ever known he was awake, even while he spoke his eyes remained closed!

"I know… but I still need to go get 'presentable' for the opening ceremony of the exams…" Temari replied softly, which actually made perfect sense since her whole attire screamed 'walk of shame', and she didn't have the benefit of being at literal hand's reach of a change of clothes like he did.

Shikamaru cracked open an eye, not even being able to hide the smirk that crept up his lips as his sight was welcomed by the figure of an underwear-laced Temari; her muscular, thick thighs jumped out like a sore thumb even amidst her toned navel and strong shoulders. Her body wasn't 'femenine' like Ino's, or even Hinata's (yes, of course he had looked once or twice, he's a young man after all, and it was only natural), every inch of her body screamed of hard-work, exhausting drilling, and guns-blazing-power… And Shikamaru wouldn't have it any other way, he knew perfectly well she could split him in half with her own hands if she ever desired so, he knew that better than anyone else; but other thing he knew better than anyone else in the entire world was how soft her first and last smiles of the day were whenever they had to go through a long day of paperwork; how she stole a glance of him when he (pretended) to close his eyes and sigh tiredly from his duties as coordinator, how she'd actually put her own paperwork aside in order to help him finish his before he could screw up a meeting of the kages… and as of last night: no one else knew how she blushed when he whispered loving to her ear; how she leaned her weight back on his whenever he held her softly from behind, as if letting him know his presence alone could lift her off the ground by itself; how she had a sweet spot on her left pulse where if he kissed her she'd bite back the softest, most tender moan one could possibly hear…- there was so much more than it met the eye when it came to Temari.

"You look well enough for me." Shikamaru gracefully stated out loud while smiling.

'_**WHAM!' **_

Temari's fist cracked down over Shikamaru's head so fast that not even the Uchiha's famous eyes could have possibly see it coming.

"I am a _**LADY**_, you legendary pervert laze!" Temari yelled over to Shikamaru. "Just because I decided you were lucky enough to see me like this _once_ doesn't mean I'll suddenly go out in public parading myself like this!" Temari cocked his fist back once again, preparing herself to beat some respect into Shikamaru's thick skull once again. "I'm a _**Lady of Suna**_-!"

"_OI! Oi, oi, oi, oi!_" Shikamaru scrambled awkwardly around his bed trying to both explain himself and stop his…- stop _Temari. _From killing him before noon. He finally managed to stop her flailing fist with his hand as he knelt on the bed.

"That's not what I meant- I was trying to say you look beautiful and things! And that I like you!" So much for Shikamaru's eloquence.

Temari's eyebrow twitched, though more of bashfulness than any other thing, since he was as bare as she was and he was—albeit quite lamely—complimenting her even after she'd hit him over the head. Her eyes couldn't help but run up and down his quite thin, but perfectly distributed, fibrous muscle tone; which made her blush grow more intensely then and there.

"I don't have time to beat some manners into you right now, I have to go get changed and ready to escort Gaara to the ceremony." Temari barked as she freed herself from his hand and turned around, gathering her clothes and slipping them on as best as she could. "I'll have to wait till tonight to do that."

Shikamaru was ready to beg if it got to that, he _really_ didn't want to mess this up for a simple misunderstanding, and Kami knew he lacked experience, for once in his life he wasn't trying to be crude or dry when talking and- '_WAIT, had she actually said 'tonight'?'_

"U-Um… Tonight?" Shikamaru asked softly, as if he was talking to a feral tigress. "As in _here _tonight?"

"IS there a probl-" Temari was ready to blow a fuse again. Here she was, giving him an out, compromising and of course he'd find a problem with that.

"_NO!" _Shikamaru replied immediately, perhaps too immediately. "I MEAN- everything's fine, everything's perfect! Yes. Here and tonight, tonight and here!" Shikamaru scrambled out of the bed and towards her so awkwardly, the highly skilled Jōnin almost fell over his own feet and onto his face.

Temari tried really hard to _keep_ pretending to be mad at him, but she just couldn't anymore, the poor guy was miserable right now, and she cared all too much about him to keep his suffering going even longer. It was quite tempting though.

Temari rolled her eyes amidst a soft smile. "Alright, alright… No need to break your neck for me… Yet." She teased him as she slipped on her gloves. "Let's go get some breakfast beforehand and then we'll see each other later in the day."

Part of Shikamaru knew she was just toying with him right now… But the other part also knew fully well that this wasn't the 'bad' kind of toying, this was _their_ kind of toying, theirs and only theirs. So as any good genius would do, he saw an opportunity too good to pass up and took it.

"_Troublesome_." Shikamaru deadpanned with a shrug, back at using his usual aloof tone, only letting a slight smirk be shown at the end.

Temari rolled her eyes again as she turned around to keep looking for her different articles of clothing, articles which were mixed around the room along with his, articles which were proving to be quite troublesome to find.

Temari caught a glimpse of her blouse tangled on over Shikamaru's nightstand, she reached for it and tugged it to her, causing the book it was tangled with to fall over with a heavy thud.

Shikamaru looked her way as he finished adjusting his bottoms, merely curious of what the noise had been about. "Don't worry-" He quickly waved the matter off. "It's just one of Ino's prank gifts…"

Temarie pursed her lips. "You know? It's not exactly polite to be so dismissive of your friend's gifts…" She chastised him as she picked up her last missing piece of clothing in one hand and the infamous book in the other.

" '_A Novice's Journey to the Fascinating World of Fungi' _?" Temari frowned as she read the title of the book out loud… She almost felt bad for chastising Shikamaru now. "Why did Ino gave this to you in the first place?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle as he walked over to Temari. "Being the village's leading expert on botanics and also one of its most proficient medical practitioners she gets tasked with reading and investigating about matters like this." He replied as he took the book from her hands and tossed it over his own head. "She gives them to me after she's finished with them, sometimes she tries to get me to accept them in exchange for free food."

Temari laughed a bit at Shikamaru's answer, she slipped her blouse on and plopped down on the bed with him as they adjusted their sandals and last pieces of clothing.

"So, just _what_ did you learn about the '_Fascinating World of Fungi'?" _Temari asked sarcastically, not really expecting him to even open the book in the first place.

Shikamaru actually laughed at her antics, happy to see her so loose and casual with him. "It's actually not too bad."

"You **did **read it!"

"Contrary to popular belief I'm not in the least a big reading fan… I only read what people give me."

"Kami... You're duller and duller the more I know you…!" She teased him and nudged his arm. "So, share your knowledge with the class Shika-Kun."

Once again Shikamaru smiled at her antics and rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know that fungi are actually much more interesting than I expected."

"Oh, _please_ tell me more! You _do_ know how to keep a woman interested!" Temari chuckled at him.

"For example, _Troublesome Woman_—" Shikamaru spoke over her "—fungi are one of the few organisms that use spores for reproduction and dispersal, and these tiny little things called spores are capable of travelling thousands of miles away from their ejection site, they're also capable of resisting a number of poisonous chemical agents, direct flame, boiling, freezing, thawing, acid, and high pressure. Not to mention a single spore can go through all of that and still 'live' for years on end floating around." Shikamaru finished his lesson just as he stood from the bed, dusting himself.

"Poor you… you now have all of that engraved onto that big brain of yours forever, don't you?" Temari replied without missing a bit.

"Yes. I sadly do."

"_Poor you._" Temari pinched his cheek before walking past him. "Let me buy you some breakfast and you can finish wooing me with as much Fungi facts as you want."

Shikamaru could see himself making a habit of this.

* * *

"Come on, Kaori!" Runa called ahead of her friend. "Why did you stop? We're late already!"

"She's right." Yoa blurted as he landed beside Kaori. "We better hurry."

"S' nuthin'..." Kaori furiously rubbed her left eye. "Something got in my eye!" She complained angrily, trying to blink the intruder away but getting welcomed with a white splotch on her vision instead.

"Are you serious?!" It was Runa who complained now, she wasn't in the mood for antics right now.

"Shut up, okay?!" Kaori yelled back at her teammate. "It burns like hell!" She tried rubbing her eye again for a couple of seconds, opening it once again and blinking. She watched the white splotch fade away little by little with every blink right before it went away completely, the pain going away with it as well.

"Are we good?" Yoa asked, getting in front of Kaori's sight.

Kaori smiled at the relief coming from her eye and then at her friend's concern. "All good!"

Yoa smiled back and nodded, not waiting any longer to jump ahead once again.

"And I'm gonna pray for you to get laid, Runa! _Seriously! _" Kaori shouted right after she fell into step with her team.

* * *

The Opening Ceremony was, to put it mildly, a drag… Yeah, of course, it made sense to showcase the Chūnin teams to the Konoha people, it made sense for the people who had cross the continent to at least see the faces of the ninja who would be competing for their nation's symbols.

But it was still annoying to stand there in front of hundreds of people, while each Kage made their speech, all five of them pretty much said the same thing: they offered their condolences to all those who had lost someone in the war, shared a couple of proud lines to pump up the people from their villages, made it clear that this was to be a peaceful celebration and that all competition would be shared in 'good health', and reiterated how even amidst all the festivities this was in fact a _**serious**_ event that'd serve as a way to measure different Shinobi's skills and that if it came to that; no Jōnin promotion would be awarded if none of the participants were deemed fit.

'_Pfft… As if… For at least __**some **__of us this will merely be a formality…' _Iwagakure's own Kurotsuchi thought.

Kurotsuchi did come up with a silver lining through all of that though, if anything the ceremony served her enough to see who else was among the participants. It was announced that the Exam would have a couple of surprises along the way, something for the 'regular' people to enjoy; but something not at all surprising was the announcement that the exam would require three-man-units for anyone to compete in. Which meant Kurotsuchi's worst nightmare came true then and there… She'd _**have**_ to be put in a team with two other no-names and carry their dead weight on her back for however long the Exams lasted!

And as if faith had no pity for her in the least, all of the participant Chūnin were dragged off of the stage and into Konoha's Academy Training Hall right away.

She had to agree that it wasn't an ugly sight, it was a pretty basic training ground for Genins, perhaps even low-level Chūnins, it had some bleachers with a scoreboard type thing, the actual training ground, and a big statue of a hand-seal embedded on the wall… It wasn't exactly up to Iwa's standards but it'd probably do.

"Oi, Kurotsuchi-San!"

Kurotsuchi was brought back from her self-pity long enough to recognize someone coming over to her. "Chōjūrō ! If it isn't you!" She greeted him with a grin.

"Hai! It's been a while, Kurotsuchi." The swordsman nodded. "I saw you back at the ceremony, figured I should come say hi."

"Yeah, I saw you there too. Quite a bore wasn't it?"

Chōjūrō shrugged a shoulder. "It was needed, got to give the people something to root for."

"Oh, come on! Not you too…" Kurotsuchi groaned as she threw her head back. "If they want to clap they should go to a dancing show…"

Chōjūrō offered a soft laugh and a shake of his head. He didn't agree with her ideas, but did in fact find some humor in them anyway.

"WAIT!" Kurotsuchi yelled suddenly realizing something. "You're here, Chōjūrō !" The woman grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake him vigorously, which meant the Mist Nin could barely whimper out a 'yes'.

"Are you here alone?! Did they put you up to this on your own as well?! WE HAVE TO GET THEM TO TEAM US UP, WE HAVE TO SHOW THEM THEY CAN'T TEAM US UP WITH JUST ANY RANDOM Chūnin-" Kurotsuchi's rage was unfortunately discharged on the poor Chōjūrō 's person until she got interrupted.

"Ch-Chōjūrō Kun…? Are you alright?" Ruka asked hesitantly from beside Kiri.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Kurotsuchi questioned the pair as she manhandled Chōjūrō hiding him behind her back as if he was a flat piece of wood.

"We're his teammates." Kiri deadpanned, getting just a bit of second-hand embarrassment from all of this.

"_**WHAT?!**_" Kurotsuchi yelled in defeat even louder, finally releasing Chōjūrō from her grasp.

It would take Chōjūrō a couple of seconds to get his dizzy eyes and now-even paler skin-tone back to normal, after the Kunoichi's abuse. Kiri had to go over to him and begrudgingly tend to him for something he brought to himself.

"What's with the noise over here?" Karui asked with a frown as she and Omoi walked into the scene shortly after. "And why is Chōjūrō -San dying?"

"Maybe some rogue ninja managed to escape certain death years ago while battling against Chōjūrō and nursed himself back into health with the sole remaining purpose of getting his payback years later by killing him with a poisoned senbon right under the noses of the best Chūnin the continent has to offer." Omoi… did his thing right before replacing his totally consumed pop for a new one.

"Ugh… I swear that when you get like this I pray they split us up into different teams already…" Karui growled to her teammate.

"SO YOU DO COME HERE BY YOURSELVES!" Kurotsuchi instantly changed objectives as she went to grab Omoi's shoulders.

"Ah, I see what happened to Chōjūrō …" Kaori muttered without showing much actual preoccupation for her teammate. "And yes, since Samui is a Jōnin already we came here on our own."

"THEN _**WE **_HAVE TO TEAM UP!" Kurotsuchi switched to grabbing Karui's shoulders.

Karui actually found it quite amusing, but simply chuckled it out and struggled against the Iwa's Kunoicihi's grip but removed it nonetheless. "I don't think it works that way…-" Karui was about to reason with her fellow Kunoichi before she noticed Omoi's poise shift in a second.

"_**WHY NOT?**_" Kurotsuchi cried out, quite close to throwing a temper tantrum then and there.

"Yo, Omoi. What's wrong?" Karui cut to the chase with her teammate, knowing he wasn't the type to break his own ice for nothing.

"Huh, what?" Kurotsuchi cut her antics for a moment to turn to look at the addressee of Karui.

Omoi of course expected them to come, he'd been on the wrong place at the wrong time with _them_ he knew they were to be participants in this exam, though for a second—when he missed them at the ceremony—he thought they'd been punished for their actions and got banned from participation. He seemed to be wrong, though…

"It's them." Omoi stated with a nod in their direction. The bleachers they were on weren't huge to begin with, and with all the room all the Nin were taking the distance between the so called '_them' _and Omoi wasn't too far off.

Karui's eyes immediately followed Omoi's; she knew Omoi wasn't supposed to say what had transpired the night before, he'd been trusted a vote of confidence by the Hokage, and Omoi took it seriously, but with Karui being her life-long teammate and friend, Omoi felt the need to warn her about foes that could present a threat to her chances of passing the exam and perhaps even to her life…

"Who?" Kurotsuchi asked with an arched eyebrow, inspecting the crowd over with her eyes, finally falling on the newly arrived trio. She wasn't impressed. "_Those three_ from _**Rain...**_?" She openly scoffed, the emphasis on her words not exactly a respectful one.

"Ame's a small village for a reason, it's filled with nobodies. They won't even make it past whatever our first test will be." Kurotsuchi deadpanned.

Karui exchanged a glance with Omoi, his eyes weren't relenting, he was for real about them.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Kurotsuchi." Karui decided to amuse Kurotsuchi so as to not draw more attention to the situation. But she still looked pointedly at Omoi. "We're just being careful."

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes, '_Really? Making a fuss for three lowly Chūnin from god-knows-where? Pfft… I guess Kumo isn't as tough as they like everyone else to think they are.'_ The Iwa Nin thought proudly.

* * *

"I told you we were running late." Runa verbally prodded her teammate.

"I never said we weren't late, I said I didn't care much for being paraded like cattle for those asshole Daimyos." Yoa replied as he looked around the room to the different teams present.

Runa wasn't impressed with Yoa's answer, and she was about to make it a point known to him right before Kaori got their attention with a call.

"Oi, Hot-Tan looking our way." Kaori pointed to Omoi, who was still looking their way with a group around him.

"That he is…" Runa smirked as if she was the cat that ate the canary. She winked his way once more while tapping the hilt of her katana. She knew as well as anyone that when it came to battle and competition having an edge of any kind—especially a mental edge—came in hand. Plus, a bit of hostile flirting never hurt anyone.

"Would you look at that, you made the guy flush…" Yoa noted with a mocking grin, his eyes fixated on the group. It seemed like there were at least two teams with that Omoi guy, it wasn't like Yoa to underestimate opponents, ever; and this time was no exception. Even he had to admit they didn't look weak, and there probably was more than met the eye if their previous encounter was worth a dime.

"You're such children sometimes…" Kaori rolled her eyes at her teammates but still directed her eyes to the other group, she wasn't too impressed, nor underwhelmed either; she just didn't seem to want to fight before it was needed… Not _again_ anyway.

* * *

"Is that damn _minion_ grinning at us?" Kurotsuchi asked those around her, fuming already.

Chōjūrō and his group had re-joined their group after Kiri and Ruka—respectively—glared and fidgeted the dizziness induced by Kurotsuchi out of him.

"What 'minion'?" Chōjūrō asked, narrowing his eyes as he searched for the accused.

"The boy from Ame's trio." Karui replied, somewhat impressed by the subtle grit those three were showing.

"Ah" Chōjūrō nodded. "I didn't know Ame was participating, didn't see them at the ceremony."

"They weren't there." Kiri stated.

"No, they weren't." Omoi confirmed, the lightest tint of color lacing his cheekbones.

"Let's hope they don't have a 'Hanzo' amongst them…" Chōjūrō joked lightheartedly, he had trust in himself and his team, he had already seen the teams that worried him the most, some Nins from Konoha, Suna—and obviously—Iwa and Kumo; he hadn't seen any from any smaller village until now, but he did know the fame Ame had for getting one or two great ninjas every generation. It didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Oh _please…" _Kurotsuchi took the joke as anything but lighthearted, Hanzo was the clear exception, not the rule. "Lesser Villages are lesser for a reason, **their people don't belong…!**" She parroted her words from earlier, only this time she made sure the Ame Nin heard them, made them know her thoughts.

* * *

A pin drop could be heard on the Training Hall, where there once was chatter and an actual amicable vibe in a room that would otherwise be tense and hostile, complete silence took over. The rest of the teams there stopped to look over at the emitter of such harsh words, words that most thought would be long erased from vocabulary after what the war had taught them.

Words that ticked the wrong switch inside the Ame Nin.

Yoa's reaction was immediate, explosive, careless. He stomped the few steps between the two groups and went face to face with Kurotsuchi.

"Big words for some worthless lonely Nin." Yoa barked down at the shorter Iwa Kunoichi, he had noted she was the only one wearing Iwa's symbol amongst the group, the closest Iwa team on the complete opposite side of the room. "It looks like it's someone else who doesn't belong."

Kurotsuchi certainly wouldn't back down, she had a mission, she had the weight of a great nation resting on her shoulders; and she wasn't about to let a random nobody get in her way.

"Some of us don't need a team to back us up." She barked back, not backing an inch from the man facing her. "Much less a team of pretenders like yourselves."

Yoa's jaw clenched, it was one thing to insult him, perhaps even his homeplace, it was another to insult his friends.

"How about you backup your words, _runt." _Yoa challenged her. "There's a pit right here and now. By the end of it I'll have you begging to wear Ame's symbols to cover those lowly rocks of yours."

Kurotsuchi's blood boiled, she wasn't about to let just anyone talk to her like that, to talk about Iwa like that, much less in front of everybody. She'd fight this clown and end his path right here and now.

"I don't need a pit to end you, ." Kurotsuchi muttered angrily, everything from the small pebbles to the stones on the pit rumbling on their place, getting called upon to strike.

"Kurotsuchi-San, stop!" Chōjūrō yelled.

"Yoa, that's enough!" Runa gripped Yoa's shoulder, but neither seemed to cease, his arm was extended below waist, a swirl of black debris forming around his side.

Kurotsuchi made the first move, striking forward with her rock-covered arm. In a flash Yoa pushed Runa away and a shiny black spear materialized at his hand, spear slamming forward to meet Kurotsuchi's fist...

From nowhere a huge gust of wind flattened everyone to the ground, bystanders and attackers alike were dropped on their backs until the wild winds ceased.

"CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE." A loud roar signaled the end of the gusts. "I'm Temari of Sunagakure, and I'll be your proctor for the first Jōnin Exams test. Get your asses up!"

_**To be continued...  
**_

**Note:** That's Chapter 4 for you! I'm thinking of uploading a summary of what the ANBU found on our dear Trio's files. What do ya think? I think we need more info of our _troublesome _trio.  
I'm also dying for some action and the Jōnin Exams are about to (finally) begin...! We'll see what happens in 5 and so on... Thanks for reading!


	5. Bonus: ANBU Report

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Notes: **Hi! Here is a bonus chapter, here we have the ANBU Investigation demanded by Kakashi after his and Shikamaru's discussion. It was amazingly fun to write, but also way harder than I thought it would be, served as a great excersise to my world-building skills; and hopefully will help you identify and understand our dear trio better! I DID leave out a lot of information about them still, but no worries! I'll be leaking it into the story little by little. As always thank you for reading! I'd love for you to tell me what do you think about these troublesome trio! Next official chapter will be posted shortly.  
Ps: The 'redacted' blocks were a pain in the ass.

* * *

_**.**_

_**ANBU Forces Special Report**_

_**Intelligence Division**_

_**Subject of Investigation: 'Nin Team K'**_

_**Destinatary: Hokage's Office**_

_**Confidentiality Rank: A**_

_**.**_

**Subject 1**

**Name: **_Yoa Kanamono._

**Age: **21 years old as of the day of this writing.

**Physical Description: **Yoa Kanamono measured at 169 centimeters of height, and 62 kilograms in weight according to Amegakure's latest Shinobi Profile, though according to the observations of the ANBU operatives ██████ and ██████, they calculate close to 3 centimeters of growth, and 8 kilograms gain in lean mass and body development.

The subject has a full black hair mane braided in a long single strand reaching down to his lower back.

He has light brown skin about a shade lighter that the more reddish characteristic tone of people from Amegakure, a probable inheritance of both of his parents ███████████.

He has black eyes and dense black eyebrows the same color of his hair.

No noticeable scarring or cosmetic modifications were noticeable through the observations or official records.

**Attire: **He's been seen wearing thick gray vest on top of some standard compression undershirts, and black tactical bottoms with no kunai pouches or storage accessories of any kind.

Both of his biceps are tightly wrapped with industrial bandaging similar to those used by construction workers for protection; both of his wrists are also covered in the same type of bandaging, and both hands are wrapped with thinner surgical tape all throughout.

He wears the Ame's headband wrapped around his left bicep.

**Bio:** Yoa Kanamono's records were one of the most irregular ones we've stumbled onto (that's without mentioning his improbable survival *see conclusion at the end*)—not for a lack of data or detailing though—he didn't start ninja training until well late onto his childhood, his first registration card puts him as a (Konoha's)Academy-Student-Equivalent at 11 years of age, he was amongst the last batch of children chosen by Hanzō to enroll into the academy before his (presumed) death.  
His marks in the Academy are lackluster at best, he seemed to be continuously surpassed by his much younger classmates. He did not get sent to Konoha's Chūnin Exams by then leader Pain on the grounds that Yoa hadn't graduated yet.

His graduation papers put Yoa as graduated from the academy at 14 years old, gaining Genin Rank; but just 6 months later he partakes in his own village's Chūnin Exams—and according to his results and our database on Amegakure's Ninjas—he single-handedly graduates while breaking every Amegakure's Chūnin Exams record at age 15.  
He was then assigned to Amegakure's '_Chūnin Team K'_ as a replacement for the deceased teammate of Kaori Akuryō (aged 14), and Runa Kashima (aged 17).

As a team member of '_Chūnin Team K'_ he partook in:  
-15 C-Rank missions  
-22 B-Rank missions  
-9 A-Rank missions  
-1 S-Rank missions

**Databook and Abilities: **The databook provided in the next paragraph shows the exact same scores as the ones issued by his last 'Amegakure's Official Shinobi Profile' taken when Yoa Kanamono's age was 17 years old.

**Databook**

Ninjutsu  
4

Taijutsu  
4.5

Genjutsu  
1.5

Intelligence  
3.5

Strength  
4

Speed  
4

Stamina  
3

Hand Seals  
2

Overall: 26.5

**Abilities: **We have reason to doubt the scores provided in the databooks of each subject, it should be mentioned that every mission report of ranks '_A' _and '_S'_ were redacted pretty much in their entirety, which gave us no certain grounds to validly proof or refuse the scores given by their files. Still, the following was found regarding the Subject _Yoa Kanamono's _weaknesses and strengths_:_

**Strengths:**  
-Yoa Kanamono has proved to be one of the few users of both Earth and Wind release, having an uncanny ability to handle the Advanced Nature Transformation '_Magnet Release'.__*****_

-The available reports at our disposal depicted Yoa as capable of using his previously mentioned Kekkei Genkai to create and/or manipulate metals and other elements present in the soil, air, water, or other available objects around him.*****  
-He does not seem to need to channel his chakra through hand-seals when using his Kekkei Genkai. All the previous abilities don't seem to be too costly on chakra for his body.*****

-His ability in Taijutsu could be easily compared to that of any Taijutsu Tokubetsu-Jōnin in or outside of Konoha.

-Described as a defensive fighter most of the time, preferring to wait for his opponent's move in order to use his defensive prowess to parry his opponent.

-Intelligence is regarded as above average, though he was rarely trusted as a decision maker since he always acted inside a previously established team hierarchy that attended to their leader.

-Both his stated speed and strength are heavily doubted in our eyes, but were they proved true, then the subject could escalate pass and A-rank threat, further investigation and observation is required.

**Weaknesses:  
**-*****It's important to note that just as his databook suggests, he (at least at the moment of the reports) struggled with hand-seal jutsus.

-His stamina is perhaps his second biggest weakness. If he ever finds himself with the need of using another jutsu other than his Kekkei Genkai his overall energy and chakra reserves become severely reduced.  
-Prone to missing executions or finishing moves against his foes.  
-His main flow is he has never depicted any offensive ability for Genjutsu. His few defensive shows have been against average level Genjutsu at most.  
-Defensive style of fighting could pose a problem against the right opponent.  
-Relies too heavily on his Kekkei Genkai.  
-Generally more successful in team fights.

**Known Jutsus:  
****-**█████ ███**  
**███████ ███████████████ ██████████████████ ██████████████████████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ █████████████**  
**

* * *

**Subject 2**

**Name:** _Runa Kashima._  
**Age: **23 years old as of the day of this writing.

**Physical Description: **Runa Kashima measured at 169 centimeters of height, and 52 kilograms in weight according to Amegakure's latest Shinobi Profile, though according to the observations of the ANBU operative ██████, it calculates only about a single (1) centimeter of growth, and 7 kilograms of lean mass and body development.  
The subject has medium length dark brown hair that reaches her shoulder blades; often kept together in a bun.

She has very light skin color, very similar to that of people from Sunagakure, though the lack of sun exposure through her life is clear on her general complexion.

She has light brown eyes and slim dark eyebrows the same color of her hair.

No noticeable scarring or cosmetic modifications were noticeable through the observations or official records.

**Attire: **Her whole attire can easily be described as a direct homage to that worn by Amegakure's late leader Hanzō of the Salamander. Namely: Thick, black compression underclothing from head to toe. Dark thermic tactical bottoms and shirt, firmly tucked in at the ankles and wrists with standard bandaging. She's the only one of her teammates that wears the standard Chūnin vest of Amegakure. She does not wear a breathing mask like Hanzō used to, but does use a similar cape and cap for her hair.

She wears Ame's headband on her forehead, attached to her cap.

**Bio: **Runa Kashima's records were by far the most detailed out of the bunch delivered to us, her story and (reason for) survival is even more astonishing than that one of her teammates, considering the following:  
Runa Kashima was enrolled at Amegakure's Academy at the same age as the one of Konoha's earliest entries; aged 5 she found her quick way to the top of her class, after a couple of years in the academy she calls the attention of Hanzō of the Salamander himself; from ages 7 to 11 she is said to get mentored by Hanzō, and groomed to be a part of Amegakure's special forces. It isn't clear when she became a Genin, but it's clear by her official records that she became a Chūnin at age 13, on the same year that Hanzō was killed by the invasor Pain.  
Somehow, she does not get executed or hunted down by Pain's regime, instead; she is let to keep her Chūnin rank and starts to get deployed in solo missions by Konan's direct orders.  
Three years later (aged 16) she gets appointed as leader of then '_Chūnin Team K'_ conformed by Kaori Akuryō (aged 13) and ██ ████. He died a year later and that's when Yoa Kanamono (aged 15) joins the team as replacement. Runa Kashima (age 17) did not stop getting deployed in solo missions for a year (aged 18), then her team joined her on such missions.  
She (age 17-20) and her team were still under Pain's regime for three years; getting deployed on their only S-Rank Mission a month before Pain's death (aged 20).

As a solo agent she completed the next missions:  
-0 C-Rank missions  
-17 B-Rank missions  
-20 A-Rank missions  
-0 S-Rank missions

As team leader of '_Chūnin Team K'_ she partook in:

-30 C-Rank missions  
-31 B-Rank missions  
-11 A-Rank missions  
-1 S-Rank missions

**Databook and Abilities: **The databook provided in the next paragraph shows the exact same scores as the ones issued by her last 'Amegakure's Official Shinobi Profile' taken when Runa Kashima's age was 19 years old.

**Databook**

Ninjutsu  
4

Taijutsu  
3.5

Genjutsu  
3

Intelligence  
4

Strength  
3.5

Speed  
3.5

Stamina  
3

Hand Seals  
3.5

Overall: 28

**Abilities: **We have reason to doubt the scores provided in the databooks of each subject, it should be mentioned that every mission report of ranks '_A' _and '_S'_ were redacted pretty much in their entirety, which gave us no certain grounds to validly proof or refuse the scores given by their files. Still, the following was found regarding the Subject _Runa Kashima's _weaknesses and strengths_:_

**Strengths:**

-Runa Kashima proves to be a user of both Lightning and Earth release, we found no evidence in the files that suggests her being able to use any Kekkei Genkai of the Advanced Nature Transformation or any other.

-An outsdanding Kenjutsu proficiency has been cited throughout her files as her main focus of both offense and defense in combat. Her weapon of choice is the Katana.  
-Her advanced Shape and Nature transformation of both Lightning Release, and Earth release are reasons to see her as a concerning threat in combat.

-Even when not using her Kenjutsu, she's more than able to handle herself against Chūnin class attackers with ease, suggesting that she could theoretically engage in combat with Jōnins even without her weapon.

-Very reliable across the board at any and all situations, whether they are defensive or offensive, across all ninja arts.

-Very pensative and patient fighter, seems equally comfortable in both direct combat and ambush-style fighting.

-Ample arrange of jutsu is strongly believed to be in her arsenal.

**Weaknesses:**

-She is a very balanced Kunoichi, no pointed weaknesses were found other than the fact that none of her abilities seem to rank at a true elite form. Further clarification is required, but we still regard her as a highly dangerous individual.

**Known Jutsus:  
****-**█████ ███**  
**███████ ███████████████ ██████████████████ ██████████████████████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ █████████████

* * *

**Subject 3**

**Name:** _Kaori Akuryō._  
**Age: **20 years old as of the day of this writing.

**Physical Description: **Kaori Akuryō measured at 160 centimeters of height, and 48 kilograms in weight according to Amegakure's latest Shinobi Profile, and according to ANBU Operatives ██████ and ██, no physical difference was discernible between her shinobi profile and visual identification.  
The subject has very long, very dark purple hair that's kept in a low tie at around her lower back.

Her complexion is a pale one, more aching to the usual Amegakure people, with only light tint around her cheekbones.

She has very light hazel eyes, almost yellow on her irises; and slim eyebrows a shade darker than her hair.

No noticeable scarring or cosmetic modifications were noticeable other than one small earring on each earlobe.

**Attire: **Kaori is always seen wearing a glossy, black, silk Kimono; with silver collar, belt and accents.  
The more noticeable part of her clothing is the use of 'prayer beads'; she's never seen without wearing a regular prayer beads necklace that reaches her chest, and another set of exaggerated size that hangs around her hips.

She wears the Amegakure headband embedded onto the center wooden bead of the set that hangs from her hips.

**Bio: **We have various theories as to why Kaori Akuryō's files and profiles are either redacted in their majority, or simply left deliberately incomplete to begin with, namely:  
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ the rest we will report in a later transcript; but as of now, the majority of Kaori's Bio, and general information comes from the files of her teammates.  
We found no record of her joining Amegakure's Ninja Academy to begin with, nor did we find any recollection of grades, exams or testings.

We found no document to validate her Genin rank, but did find a Village issued certification of getting the Chūnin Rank at age 13, the same year she was chosen as a team member of 'Chūnin Team K'.

The mission reports that included her in said missions mirror that of Runa Kashima's 'Team' statistics, we found no reason to doubt such records and as such; present them next.

As a team member of Nin Team K:  
-30 C-Rank missions  
-31 B-Rank missions  
-11 A-Rank missions  
-1 S-Rank missions

**Databook and Abilities: **The databook provided in the next paragraph shows the exact same scores as the ones issued by her last 'Amegakure's Official Shinobi Profile' taken when Kaori Akuryō's age was 16 years old.*

**Databook**

Ninjutsu  
4

Taijutsu  
2

Genjutsu  
4

Intelligence  
3

Strength  
2

Speed  
2

Stamina  
4

Hand Seals  
4

Overall: 25

*_Kaori is ranked the lowest out of the three members of her team, but after a deep analysis of the remaining mission reports, we concluded possible _██████ ██████ █ █████████ ████████ which may _not be accounted by measurements such as a Databook._

**Abilities: **We have reason to doubt the scores provided in the databooks of each subject, it should be mentioned that every mission report of ranks '_A' _and '_S'_ were redacted pretty much in their entirety, which gave us no certain grounds to validly proof or refuse the scores given by their files. Still, the following was found regarding the Subject _Kaori Akuryō's _weaknesses and strengths_:_

**Strengths:**

-She's noted to be profficient in Bukijutsu, using two Kusarigamas (hand scythes) with chains often hidden inside each sleeve of her Kimono.

-We know she's a user of Fire release.

**Weaknesses:  
**████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████**  
**

**Known Jutsus:****  
****-**█████ ███**  
**███████ ███████████████ ██████████████████ ██████████████████████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ █████████████

* * *

**Conclusion**

Each of the ANBU Operatives present and participant in these reports, signing:  
**_-████_**  
**_-███_**  
**_-█████_**  
**_-██████████_**

Concluded that there was no forging, falsification, or attempt to mislead by the files given to us by the Hokage Office, and given to them by the subjects in question. We also tested them for any signs of tampering of any other hostile nature such as Genjutsu, poisoning, spying, and others; we found no evidence to support any claim of that nature.

The evidence we _did_ find only suggested that such files may be misleading on accident, by failures in the examination or qualification processes by the emitting Village.  
That being said; we do encourage Konoha to not underestimate the potential threats such subjects could pose, we concluded that even though the information the subjects willingly gave out is much more detailed and trust-worthy than any of the others shared by the rest of the Chūnin Participants or their villages, we still lack too much information to correctly assess each subject's abilities, rank, personality, and potential hazard to Konoha or any other Village in the continent.  
There are at least three years of lapse and development (from the date of the last report to the present day) of each subject not possibly accounted in this report that can't be ignored.

The main subject of speculation throughout this process—especially considering the light and answers we got from the post Pain's Assault on Konoha—is the probable reason as to _why_ Pain didn't kill any of the subjects when they clearly had known ties to the past Hanzō regime.  
We consider launching a full-on investigation might be too much as of right now, but further analysis and even direct interrogation with the subjects is encouraged by the ANBU division.

.


	6. A Shinobi's Purpose

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Note: **We got our first review! This late night upload goes to you! As for the Chapter, it's a lenghty one, the longest by a lot. I just wanted to get everything ready right here and now before the exams started. Enjoy!

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Five**

**_'A Shinobi's Purpose'_**

It took everyone a second to process the situation, it wasn't like any of them expected to see one of the most popular and most skilled Chūnin here, get into a literal fistfight with a random newcomer that had just appeared, or for a hurricane to form inside the hall and blow everyone away... but once they all did, everyone stood up.

Those who weren't taken aback by the blast of wind were angry… that meant that only two people were angry: Yoa and Kurotsuchi; and if it were for them, there'd be no gust of wind that'd stop them from beating the living shit out of each other then and there. But what stood between them wasn't a gust of wind, it was a figure that didn't seem to have the intention of letting that happen.

"And I'm Darui of Kumo. I'll be your proctor too… and sorry for that gust of wind." Darui's mellow voice spoke out, giving each Yoa and Kurotsuchi a glance. "No more fighting until the Test starts."

Yoa gritted his teeth, but he relented, he had to, and fortunately his temper was quicker to cool down than to heat up… almost always that is.

Darui seemed pleased enough, he watched Yoa walk back with his teammates and Kurotsuchi retreat as well. Staring kunai at someone's back wasn't fighting. "Omoi, Karui." He nodded at each of them. Mentally wishing them good luck before jumping to Temari's side.

"It seems we've already broken the ice _there…_" Temari spoke loudly so everyone could hear her, she said so while nodding to the general area the previous commotion happened. "**_GOOD_**, you all will be needing more of that!"

"We've spoken to our own and all Kages numerous times before we even began coming up with the concept for this test; the words said in the public ceremony were one thing, but the Shinobi Union has been planning these exams for a while now, a vote was placed for what we're about to tell you and there wasn't a single negative." Darui complemented Temari's words seamlessly, though he did so in his own style. "The fact that we're in a union now does not mean there will be any leniency when it comes to any Examinations."

"To put it clearly—" Temari snapped shut her fan. "—no matter who you are, what clan you're part of, your role on the war or in your homeplace; if you happen to **die** on these exams, or you **kill** someone else, there will be no repercussions on what that will mean to any Land involved or not."

Voices in and around the multiple Chūnin Teams started to murmur between themselves, the subject had been flying around since the participants were elected, but really almost no one expected the Union to take that route.

"That being said." Darui rose his voice up just enough to put an end to the chatter. "Loss of life will be—as always—actively avoided, the rest of your proctors and us will do our best to make sure of that. But there will be situations along the way in which we won't be able to respond in a manner that may save your lives… so, sorry about that."

"These are '_Shinobi Rank Exams'_ people! And as such are to be taken seriously. Your lives **_will_** be put in danger, and if any of you deem it necessary for the situation then you **_will_** be allowed to use lethal force. We are not here to play around, and for as much as we've told the common folk: WE ARE NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS." Temari stated firmly.

"Becoming a Jōnin isn't an easy task, nor a prize that will be freely given away. Your Kages and ours were in agreement that each of them need the very best Ninja available to become Jōnin, that in another event of the magnitude of the previous Shinobi World War every single Land will need it's best Shinobi and Kunoichi to defend them. That the war ruthlessly proved quality will always beat quantity. And if some lives have to be lost in order to find those very select few Jōnin then they're all willing to make the sacrifice." Said Darui. "We are Ninja and that has always been our purpose: to sacrifice. By now and if you're standing on this room you should all know it."

"That being said—" It was Temari's turn to utter the words. "—if any team, or individual wants to pull out of the event after having heard all of this they will be allowed to do so… That's the first step into avoiding any unnecessary deaths. If you aren't prepared to go through this, then accept so and leave before it's too late."

Both Temari and Darui scanned the room sharply, looking for any Nin showing giveaways of hopelessness, searching for any signs that might tell Darui and Temari that a particular team or Nin wasn't ready for this… And there were—minor ones—but there were some; after all, you don't tell a room of people full of elite killers (that actively knows there are others amongst them far superior than them), that there can be loss of lives, that there won't be any actual deterrent to take a life; and expect everyone to have perfect composure. War often made cowards out of bullies, hiders out of seekers, and prey out of predators; and this event was far too close to the war to shake its effects off.

Temari and Darui nodded at each other, both had noticed it all, both knew that the little fidgets of nervousness or excitement weren't enough to kick anyone out, and no one stepped forward or out on themselves either. If anything, she could see the looks on some of the participant's faces when she mentioned they could go all out… the pleasure it gave them to know soon they'd be in action again, doing what they knew best; they wanted to hunt and be hunted, and the worst part was that she knew perfectly well what they were going through, she almost envied them. The message was clear: Everyones was ready for this, everyone was willing. Kill or be killed.

Temari sighed softly, preparing to raise her voice once again. "Do we have any questions?"

A hand was raised amongst the select multitude.

"Yes, Hinata?" Temari replied, inwardly smiling at the sight of the ring the Hyūga was using… Even Temari's mind wandered whenever she saw the ring on the recently married woman.

"U-Um… Yes." Hinata started, stuttering somewhat awkwardly for the moment everyone's eyes fell on her. "Us, the Konoha Shinobi and Kunoichi were told we wouldn't be participating within our usual teams… I was just wondering what would happen with those of us who don't have an assigned team."

Shino smiled from besides her, it was very subtle and one would miss it even if he hadn't forgone the high neckline that usually covered his mouth. '_And to imagine that woman is the same girl that used to faint around people once a day… Naruto has done wonders for her.'_

"_Yes."_ Temari replied with a nod. "I imagine some of you have the same doubts as Hinata over there." Temari told the multitude, getting some nods and words of agreement in response.

"That's why all of you were called here today." Darui followed-up. "There are individuals and duos without a team, also as Hinata-San just told you, Konoha offered to separate their teams as the proctors found it needed in order to form new teams with other nations."

"Without further ado, we'll announce the teams that'll be participating in the Exams, once you hear your name called, come over to sign your sheet and follow the instructions we'll give you with it." Temari announced, she then took out a summon scroll and deployed it, waiting a second for the smoke to disperse and for the desk and papers now in front of Darui and her to become visible.

* * *

"Chūnin Team A, members: Chōjūrō, Ruka, and Kiri, come over." Chōjūrō and his teammates heard the call, being the first to be called and walked over to Temari, meanwhile Omoi was calling another team.

"We're here, Temari-Sama." Chōjūrō nodded respectfully at the royal blooded Kunoichi.

Temari half smiled at the swordsman manners. "No need for such formalities, but they're appreciated. Now, each of you sign here, assign your leader; and if you deem it needed choose a new name for your team."

Chōjūrō and the rest signed their names. He was about to say Kiri should be captain on the grounds that he was the eldest, most experienced out of them, but he was beaten to it.

Kiri didn't hesitate one second to write down Chōjūrō as the team leader, he saw the younger Shinobi's hesitation once he'd done it but left no room to argue. "What would be our name, Captain Chōjūrō?"

Chōjūrō smiled warmly at his teammate and nodded at Ruka before writing down their names.

"Okay, Team Mist." Temari read the sheet and made sure everything was correct. "Off you go, here's your envelope."

* * *

"Chūnin Team C, members: Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Omoi." Darui had already sent a team away by now and awaited for this one to come forward.

"Shino!" Ino greeted her old friend with an enthusiastic wave, she was glad to be in a team where she'd be familiar with at least one person's abilities and profile. But she didn't seem familiar with the other's name. "Who's this 'Omoi' guy anyway?"

"That'd be me." Omoi cut in, falling into formation with his two new teammates.

"Oh, I do know you!" Ino exclaimed, quickly nodding respectfully. "I mean I heard of you, Sai said you fought by his side back in the war." She forgave herself before offering her hand. "A pleasure."

"A pleasure." Omoi shook her hand.

"It's nice to know we have a formidable ally with us." Shino nodded at Omoi.

"Sorry, but I need the signatures." Darui deadpanned from his place, interrupting the 'meeting' in front of him.

"Oh right!" Ino exclaimed and went right down to sign herself, her two teammates following her shortly after.

"We'll need a team leader, and a new name if you want." Darui stated, reading the sheet.

"Oh-" Ino wasn't expecting that, and it didn't seem like they had a lot of time to decide. "I'm okay with one of you taking the lead."

"I believe our partner Omoi has the better experience out of the three of us…" Shino commented, offering the pen to Omoi, who half-cracked a smile and nodded, signing himself to be the leader.

"Now, I've always been used to being in teams named after a wordplay with our names…" Ino was quick to say, already deciding that 'Team C' was far too bland for them. She took the pen from her captain's hand and filled the rest of the sheet.

"Team...—" Darui took a second to read the words. "—Shinomoi." He read out loud, nodding a bit impressed at the wordplay. "Here are your instructions."

* * *

"We are not naming the team '_Team BBQ'_, Chōji!" An already-getting-enraged Tenten tried to reason with her newly appointed team leader.

"Why not? Yukata likes it." The burly man replied as he pointed to Yukata, their assigned teammate from Suna.

"Uh-" The girl in question was about to reply but got cut in by Tenten.

"No she doesn't!" Tenten exclaimed. "Plus, this are serious names! It's a _public_ event!"

"Actually the names would only be visible to proctors and people involved in the tests." Temari was quick to interject. "It makes recognition easier than using bland letters or numbers as names."

"I-I…" Yukata stuttered for a second, finally being able to speak. "I like Barbeque…"

Tenten couldn't feel more betrayed.

* * *

"Come on, man! It's not that big of a deal!" Kiba tried to reason in a mixture between embarrassment and fear. The fact that a more-than-cute girl was assigned to their team didn't help matters much.

"I agree!" Matsuri eagerly tried to make things better. "We can chose a new leader! It's alright! Please stop crying, Lee-San!"

"_NO!" _Konoha's resident Green Wild Beast cried his eyes out… Though never out of sadness, NO! It was merely out of pride! Out of happiness that his old friend Kiba would even consider choosing him as his leader! _Mighty Kiba_ and the beautifully young desert flower Matsuri!

"**_I'LL MAKE YOU PROUD TEAM YOUTH!_**"

"Team what-..." Kiba was barely able to ask before…

"**_WE WILL CONQUER THE Jōnin EXAMS WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH! I'LL PROTECT OUR DREAMS OF RECOGNITION AND SUCCESS WITH MY OWN LIFE!_**" Rock Lee cried out, snatching the manila envelope out of Darui's hands and literally carrying his teammates out the hall in a green flash.

"They only signed their names…" Darui commented to no one in particular.

"We'll fill it out for them later." Temari replied from next to him.

* * *

"Chūnin Team E, members: Runa Kashima, Kaori Akuryō, and Yoa Kanamono." Temari announced. Keeping a close eye on them as they neared the desk. Shikamaru hadn't been kidding when he said they were a troublesome bunch.

Much of the room stood silent as the newcomers made their way to the front, it was clear that they were gaining some fame as troublemakers around the teams… Well, them and Kurotsuchi anyway.

Kurotsuchi held Yoa's gaze for as long as their positions allowed, a clear circle had been cleared around Kurotsuchi right after her earlier 'disagreement' with the Ame Nin. She didn't mind it, it suited everyone to know what she was about; in her book she was already a step ahead of everyone just for that.

"Sign your names, appoint a leader, and a name for your team if you desire." Temari parroted the sentence once more to the team.

The Ame trio did as they were told, signing their names in silence, choosing Runa as their leader, and writing out their usual name.

"Anything else?" Runa asked Temari on behalf of her team.

Temari once again scanned the sheet, and found no mistakes. She handed them their envelope. "You're all set, 'Nin Team K'. Follow your instructions and try to not be late next time."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Yoa replied while flashing Kurotsuchi a serious taunting look.

"Hell's sake, come on Yoa!" Kaori pulled him away, starting to get riled up by her teammate's antics. They left the hall shortly after.

* * *

"Alright, alright. Don't get impatient. We still have some teams left." Temari called the attention of the remaining teams.

"Speaking of which; Chūnin Team F, members: Karui, Hinata Hyūga, and Kurotsuchi." Temari got a bit of a grin after she read the names. She'd have to tease Shikamaru about it later on.

Hinata was nervous ever since she'd heard that they wouldn't be competing with their usual teammates, then she relaxed after she saw some of the Konoha Eleven (somehow she'd grew fonder of the nickname given to their class) getting teamed up just beforehand… Then she _really_ freaked out when she realized there wasn't anyone else from her group of friends available anymore. Now? Now she was trying really hard not to show her cold feet in front of such imposing teammates…

"Alright! Now I have a team!" Kurotsuchi near hooted, fist-bumping Karui as soon as the two of them met up front.

"Hinata!" Kurotsuchi stepped over once the Hyūga arrived in the front, punching the air so her fist was open for Hinata to bump.

The Hyūga was… surprised to say the least.

"Kurotsuchi!" Karui stepped over as well, whispering (though still accidentally loud enough for Hinata to hear). "_Hinata's Royalty in Konoha! What are you doing 'fisting' the air around her?!"_

As if realization was a ten tons boulder hitting Kurotsuchi, the Iwa Nin panicked for a second. "Sorry, Hinata-Sama!" Kurotsuchi's arms flailed wildly at her sides. She bowed numerous times while blabbering some kind of apology. "_Second Division! We worked together on the Second Division!" _She tried to explain. "_Remember us?! This is _**_Karui_**_, I'm _**_Kurotsuchi_**_!"_

Karui, now trapped in some kind of 'amicable' headlock growled at Kurotsuchi. "_I think she gets it!_"

Hinata wasn't offended by… the '_air-fisting' _as Karui had put it; she was just bewildered two Kunoichi's of their stature even remembered her! Much less they be **excited** to have her on their team!

"_What?! N-No, no, no…" _Hinata tried to clear everything up, but the words just didn't come out of her mouth.

"Ladies… Composure please." Temari deadpanned from her spot, hiding her amusement for the situation. "I still need your registration."

"_Right!" _Kurotsuchi released Karui, turning over to the desk to sing her name.

Karui signed her name and noticed Hinata had done the same, then she caught Kurotsuchi's eyes when their pens reached the 'Captain' line. "Just go ahead already…!"

Kurotsuchi slowly turned to Hinata, still quite embarrassed of her earlier behavior.

"Don't worry! It's perfect for me, Captain." Hinata offered sincerely with a smile, easing a lot of their tension from before then and there.

The new team captain nodded while smiling and signed herself.

"Second Division _F…" _Temari read, smiling. "I like the name. Here are your instructions, good luck, Ladies."

And just like that, the newest trio flickered out the hall and towards their rendezvous point.

* * *

"Alright." Temari stood next to Darui. Now both had joined all the participants right at the location written in the envelopes. "Forty-Fourth Training Ground, or as some people like to call it: 'Forest of Death'."

"Some of you may already know it from when Konoha hosted it's Chūnin Exams." Darui commented to all the gathered teams. "But don't think we'd even consider using a space like this again if there weren't some… _surprises_ hidden in there."

"Just to give you some examples…" Temari smirked wickedly as she talked. "Kirigakure and Konohagakure lended us a half a dozen of their finest ANBU Hunters… _each. _They all have one specific order… to take down as many individuals or teams as they possibly can." Temari could already see the looks on the faces of the participants, there were some clear lackers on her eyes. "_AND_, volunteer Jōnins of each village offered the participation of contract-bidden summon creatures to roam around freely in the Forest as well."

"But most importantly of all." Darui spoke up. "Last time you were given one scroll of two available types, and your success depended on your team reaching the tower on the center of the Forest while in possession of the **two** types of scrolls." Darui informed all of those who hadn't participated on the last Chūnin Exams. "This time we scrapped all of that away. This is a **_Survival Test, _**and as such we will test both your team and individual abilities to Survive in a hostile environment."

"This time around we don't only have multiple Shinobi Sensors to keep track of every single team and individual inside the Forest. Technology has allowed us to also install numerous hidden cameras in undisclosed areas of the Forest; we **_will_** be watching you all closely, every single minute of every day, and you will be judged every single minute of everyday. For all intents and purposes we advise you to treat this space as a battlefield. How you chose to survive and confront the situations that will arise inside is entirely up to you; but _remember, _every one less team in the run **is **one more chance you have at actually making Jōnin rank."

"And now, on the topic of minutes and days…" Darui coughed, already feeling his throat call for a rest from all the talking of the day. "The objective of this Test is to survive inside the forest for **_10 days_**—" He stopped for a second to let the words sink in. "—I'll repeat myself: In order to successfully complete this test, the **_entire_** team has to survive and be in perfect shape after **10 days** in the forest. If only one individual of each team fails this test then the whole team will be considered as 'failed', and will no longer be able to continue participating in the Jōnin Exams."

If anything tension grew amongst the crowd of Chūnin, it had been three years since any of them had true action, three years without having to actually fear for your life, without feeling your blood pressure go up just before a fight, without feeling as if your heart was gonna explode inside your chest. These were all things a Shinobi _needed_ to remain alive, and they were finally getting them; they may not have said so, they may not have smiled or cheered for the opportunity to kill and be killed once again… but deep down they all knew they needed this.

"You all have 5 minutes to gather yourselves, then you'll be required to go to the gate assigned to you in your personalized instructions and the First Test will start at once." Temari said, then smirked cockily. "_Good luck."_

* * *

"Well, that was something." Karui blurted once the Suna Proctor and her partner flickered out of view.

"We so got this." Kurotsuchi said with a smirk before craning and cracking her neck. "Don't you think so, Hinata?"

"Hinata?" Kurotsuchi started to look around for the missing Kunoichi. '_She didn't run away in fear… did she?' _Kurotsuchi's mind rang silently.

"She's with Naruto." Karui deadpanned, nodding over to the couple.

"_Naruto-Kun_!" The Hyūga Heiress called as she speed-walked over to her newly-wed husband. Her arms wound up around his body as soon as she reached him. "You came! I thought you'd be with Hokage-Sama all week…!"

Naruto instantly reddened at the cheeks… ever since their wedding (and even a bit before that), Hinata seemed to blossom out of her cocoon, long forgotten was the insecure little girl that hid herself whenever possible, that was too afraid to spoke-up, that fainted by mere everyday-interactions… Everyone assumed it was Naruto's doing, that the start of their romantic relationship was what had done the deed; but he knew better than anyone that the two events were simultaneous rather than cause-and-effect of one another. She had blossomed on her own, and Naruto had noticed her because he finally stopped being an idiot for long enough to notice the enormous growth she was going through, he fell for her much harder than anyone possibly realized.

Naruto's arms finally found themselves wrapping around Hinata, a warm but joyous smile lacing his lips. "Of course I came, dattebayo!" Naruto happily chirped. "You're gonna become a Jōnin, Hinata!" Naruto spoke as if the fact was a dead certainty instead of a possibility.

Hinata felt warmth envelope her body completely, it was just so Naruto… he could light-up a whole village with just his presence. And his words (something he had grown to be a _lot_ better at), made her heart jump inside her chest.

"You really think so, Naruto?" She asked as she raised her lavender eyes to look at his.

"I do." Naruto didn't hesitate even a bit, speaking a bit more quietly, but much more lovingly. "**You** can do anything you set your mind to, Hinata. And by that I don't mean 'everyone can', I mean _you, _**Hinata Hyūga**."

"Hinata _Uzumaki…" _The Heiress stated softly with a smile… Having said 'no' to one of Konoha's most prestigious clan-names had been a controversial decision amongst everyone. But she did so knowingly, she didn't want to be a Hyūga, not even it's most important member. Not after everything she'd learned about her clan, not after her uncle, not after… after _Neji_…

Naruto's eyes almost teared down then and there, but he blinked so away and leaned down to softly kiss her lips. A gesture that was more than well received by his wife, who responded to the kiss sweetly and unabashedly.

* * *

The Proctor's speech was either really well-rehearsed or they were simply good orators. One could practically smell the adrenaline pumping amongst the hungry Chūnin. And Nin Team K wasn't the exception.

"You already got our gate, right?" Kaori asked their leader.

"No. I forgot about it because I was shoving my finger up my-"

"HELL! What was that all bout'?!" Kaori deliberately interrupted Runa. "I was just asking! I don't want to know what you do with your fingers on your 'alone time'!"

"I was gonna say '_nose', _you idiot! And that's what you get for doubting me!" Runa replied automatically.

Yoa was pretty much about to cackle at his teammates, the only reason he didn't do so was because he didn't want to openly mock his friends and allies in front of every single team they were about to face. He knew they had a bit of a reputation going on, and it was better they kept it that way.

"Yo', how about we-" Yoa was about to advise Kaori and Runa to stop fighting and go to the gate already since they didn't have anything to take care off before the test. But a subtle 'ruckus' made him and his aforementioned teammates look the same way most of the people there were looking.

"Is that-" Runa asked with raised eyebrows.

"He is." Kaori replied while glaring at Konoha's Orange-Cladded Hero.

The tension looming over the trio was as heavy and thick as they remembered ever feeling. He was the one that had killed their leader after all—a tyrant to many (them included), a sanguinary tyrant that had inflicted as much terror and chaos into Amegakure as he did peace and prosperity—**he **(Naruto) had been the one that inadvertently sentenced their Village to suffer for the upcoming years without the guard of a 'Tyrant' to chase away opportunistic bandits and delinquents, to provide them with just enough to not waste away of illness and hunger… _The_ _Naruto _indirectly killed thousands of people, thousands of _their_ people.

And it was the first time they ever stood in front of a giant like that, in front of someone who had slayed 'Gods' and Demons alike…

And it showed, they weren't the only ones actively watching the man, albeit most were trying to do it discreetly, but they still did. He was nothing short of a hero of his own amongst heroes, and here he was surrounded by people his age or around it; and he'd done more by that point than most everyone would do on their whole lives combined.

He was surreal for most everyone there, even old-friends couldn't help but see Naruto on another light after the war, he was the literal saviour of everyone, friend or foe. He was someone to be respected and looked up to by _everyone… _Only a fool would do otherwise.

"Hey-" a figured moved and pushed its way out of the crowd. "Yes _you_."

Hinata and Naruto separated from their embrace when someone approached them, neither seemed to recognize the person.

"Uh, h-hi…!" Naruto stepped around Hinata and offered his hand to shake.

Kaori slapped Naruto's hand away, soon enough she found herself face to face with Konoha's Hero, having to look up just enough to make for the good 8 inches of height Naruto had on her.

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched in surprise, a small frown forming on his face. "Wha-"

"How goes it, big guy? How have these past few years been treating you?" Kaori asked with a straight phony smile on her face.

Now Naruto knew something was wrong with this woman. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"OH- But you do!" Kaori snarled. "You know how many of my friends died because of you?"

Now it was a full-on frown on Naruto's face, he didn't like being on the receiving end of a vague accusation like that. "What friends? What do you mean? I don't even know you!"

"But I know you!" Kaori pushed Naruto with one hand, as if possessed. "You're _the_ hero! Slaying the false God Pain and saving your Village! Congratulations!" Kaori mockfully 'cheered' Naruto.

Yoa and Runa knew that this was far from the right place, time, or really ANYTHING! They quickly reached Kaori and forcefully tugged her back.

"Naruto! Are you alright?" Hinata quickly questioned Naruto after he'd regained his footing from the unexpected push.

"Yes, I just don't know what's going on…" He replied, as the loud Kaori started to struggle against her teammates. He had been far too distracted and taken by surprise to expect a hit from the other Kunoichi.

"Curse you, Naruto Uzumaki!" Kaori yelled at the top of her lungs. Runa and Yoa exchanged a confused and concerned look with each other, it wasn't like Kaori to explode like this. "You're a genocidal freak!"

Fighting was one thing, causing trouble before a test was a thing; but accusing and attacking the most beloved hero in the world was another, and Runa knew this could easily blow out of proportion quickly.

"Let me go!" Kaori struggled against Yoa's grip, he had never seen her like that. It scared him, and he didn't hide so; he used a hand to grab her face and look her in the eye.

"Kaori… _Stop… _Stop, please." He firmly and literally pleaded.

Runa felt Kaori begin to relax, but she didn't have enough time to do so herself before both Proctors appeared between them and Naruto in a flash. A katana and a fan at the ready.

"Your five minutes are up, Team K. Go to your gate." Darui ordered in a tone that left little room to argue.

That didn't sit well with either Runa or Yoa, but they also knew that this wasn't the time to try and prove a point. They took advantage of Kaori's lapse in strength and flickered out of view in less than a flash, dragging their teammate with them.

Temari was right at Naruto and Hinata's side. "That goes for all of you as well! Everyone to your gate **_now_**_!" _She shouted, and was rewarded with immediate movement from all teams but Hinata's.

"Hinata?" Kurotsuchi asked as she waved her over, half expecting her to reject their leave.

"Go…! Don't worry about me! I'm okay, dattebayo!" Naruto's mood made a 180 at the sight of Hinata's indecision. "If you don't hurry I will become a Jōnin before you!"

That last kind-of 'inside joke' made Hinata crack a smile, who nodded to Naruto and pecked his cheek before running away with her teammates, eliciting relieved reactions from both Kurotsuchi and Karui.

Now that Naruto's primary concern was dealt with and Hinata was well on her way his; distraught look and composure came back. He looked over at Temari, silently conveying his questions to her.

Temari shared a glance with Darui, who simply nodded to her and then flickered away to his position as Proctor.

"Let me take you to Shikamaru. He'll be able to answer whatever questions you have right now." Temari offered Naruto. "But we need to go fast, I have a Test to take care of."

And off they went.

* * *

"Stop jittering, Lee!" Kiba complained and nudged his leader away from him.

"I can't _Kiba-Kun!_ I'm ready for all of us to become Jōnin as soon as the test starts!" Rock Lee hooted loudly, eliciting a chuckle out of Matsuri's mouth.

"Let's just worry about this test first…" The Suna Kunoichi muttered before the loud booming voice of Darui was heard through the whole forest and through their gate.

'_**Attention,** **Participants:—'**_

* * *

'—**_You've all been given your instructions by now,—'_**

"_Hai!"_ Chōjūrō loudly replied to the speaker installed on the gate. "Ready, Team Mist?"

"_Ready!" _Both Ruka and Kiri asserted their leader.

* * *

Kurotsuchi clashed both her fists together, she rolled her shoulders idly and locked her eyes right ahead of her and her team. She wasn't looking at the wire gate, nor at the deep savage forest already roaring menacingly; she wasn't even thinking about a Shinobi Rank, she had bigger things in mind, she had her proud nation's future resting on her shoulders! It all had changed so suddenly with just a couple of words from her grandfather; she was the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage and a direct descendant of the First Tsuchikage, taking care of the people in Iwa was on her blood, she couldn't let all of them down. Failure wasn't an option for her. "Let's go show them how it's done!"

"Right on!" Karui nodded, already locked in.

"Hai, Captain!" Hinata turned on her Byakugan; she would no longer be the dainty defenseless Kunoichi falling short, this time she meant business.

'—**_You're all prepared,—'_**

* * *

Omoi knew better than anyone that lots of things could go wrong from here on out, that lives could be lost and that terrible disasters could befall any of them… But now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time for him to toughen-up and lead his team to victory. His days of being seen as a runt-of-the-mill Shinobi were now behind him.

"You know your positions, Team Shinomoi. Let's execute out there." Omoi called, slipping a pop in his mouth.

Ino and Shino exchanged a glance and smiled softly at each other, they were old friends, they had gone through numerous missions with each other as Konoha shinobi, and they survived a war on their own right. They wouldn't let the other down so far down the line.

'—**_So as soon as the gates buzz open—'_**

* * *

'_Good luck, Ino; and Shikamaru, you better get ready, because before long you won't be the only Jōnin in the Ino-Shika-Cho formation!' _Chōji gave himself that last moment of peace to wish his friend good luck and center himself. This Exams were no joke, they had told them so time and time again. And he wasn't about to make a joke of himself or his team. Even if his life depended on it.

Yukata took her own moment to steel herself, she was of a handful trusted by Lord Gaara to take part in the Exams. She had to prove him right! She could not let Lord Gaara down like this! For her it was Jōnin or nothing else!

Tenten noticed the focused faces of her teammates and smiled softly… she wasn't as stressed as them, she somehow didn't feel anxious or jittery like she used to do before missions or an upcoming battle… She just didn't _feel_ so hard anymore, she didn't _care_ as much, didn't _think_ so loud… She had been incomplete ever since the war. And everyone knew why. _She _knew why…

'_Hey… if everything else fails we'll catch-up, right?' _Tenten thought as she looked upwards to the sky.

'—**_The Shinobi Union Jōnin Exams will commence.—'_**

* * *

Runa was still somewhat shaken up by Kaori's outburst, this wasn't the ideal time for any of them to have a mental breakdown. And she would lie if she said she didn't feel like having one right now, she had dragged her team this far, she had put her life and that of her friends on the line. She was responsible for them, whether they acknowledge it or not, she was a leader about to lead her friends into true danger, danger they had only faced a couple of times on their lives.

Kaori herself didn't know all too well what had happened back then… But she was unapologetic about it, she was just so angry! She's always so angry! She's tired of having to pretend any of them have a normal life anymore! She's beyond pretending their Village is _not _infected with a disease that won't ever be cured… No matter how hard they try...

Yoa felt tired; tired of having to take care of thousands of lives back home in a place where all they can do about it is get into fistfights, he's tired of pretending they are making a difference for people that forget their faces as quickly as they can because what they need is bread and pills, not fists and jutsu… _Yes,_ he hates Naruto and his village for pulling the trigger of a gun that had been loading itself on bullets since its inception. He hates this Shinobi Union, and he hated Pain, and he couldn't give a _damn_ about Hanzo, and he hates that Kurotsuchi girl and everything she stands for… He's so filled with hate and rage and aggression threatening to burst out; he's forgotten the last time he didn't feel like yelling his lungs out and punching his fists bare to the bone. It's been years since the last time he felt a sliver of hope in his heart; but there's one thing he does not hate: his friends, that Praying Girl, and that Female Hanzo that had accepted him into their little family without question… And as much as he tried he didn't hate the people of Amegakure, **_his _**people; Yoa tried to hide it every time, because it isn't for a Shinobi to show weakness, it isn't for a soldier to flinch at a corpse or to hesitate in front of death his teammates never showed it so neither should he; but every time a child died of hunger and they buried the body a string inside his heart snapped, everytime an old man died of fucking fever another string went out, every time he sees a dog bare to the bone and a pale lady sharing her one piece of bread with it two strings go out…

He hates that he has to do this, but if he has to walk on his knees and kiss the feet of every person of the 'Great Five Shinobi Nations' to save the doomed life of his people on Amegakure then he'll do so without a doubt. If this is the only way for them to feed and treat the victims back home, to keep other children from following their path… then he'll go right through Every-Single-Person standing in his way to do so…

'—**_Good _****_Luck—.'_**

And with a loud buzz every Gate in Training Ground 44 burst open.

**_To be continued..._**


	7. Day One: 'The Devil's Gonna Set Me Free'

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Author's Note:** The Character '_Hy__ō__' _is a canon character from the Naruto manga/anime. Enjoy.  
**Warning: **Descriptive graphical violence is present throughout this Chapter and will be present from here on out.

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Six**

_**Day One: 'The Devil's Gonna Set Me Free'**_

"_Sector…_" The forest had certainly been altered. And the only way such vast vegetation could either appear, disappear, grow, or shrink in just three years was if someone had actively tried to change so… which in its own right was a huge props to the proctors and organizers of the test. They had certainly taken their jobs seriously. It was becoming difficult even for an ANBU to get through the forest unbothered by the creatures and traps, much less unnoticed.

"_Sector 9!"_ A voice called, finger pressed to the sounding earpiece. "I'm here, rotations seem to be going smoothly enough. Communication hasn't been interrupted with any of the other agents."

"Alright. We've tested all comms back and forth a couple of times each, everything seems to be in top shape." Temari spoke to a mic from the control room inside the forest's tower. She made sure every channel was connected and that every Agent could hear her. "Everyone feel free to act with complete freedom from here on, don't hesitate to communicate any issues that might arise—we've gone through all of them plenty—but you can still report something out of those mentioned if you feel it needed, _and…" _the kunoichi dragged the sentence for a second, trying to see if she'd forgotten anything. "OH, right! Remember that we have eyes on almost everything, the sensors are all set, the cameras function properly and unless we tell anyone to go or do something in particular just comply with your mission."

A dozen of affirmative answers were spoken onto the comms, signaling their understanding for their proctor. A second after, they temporarily shut down their communications.

* * *

"Kaori, how are we feeling?" Yoa asked. Trying to sound not too worried, which spoke volumes of his acting skills since he was convincing enough to not show how imperative it was for Kaori to be alright right now.

"Feeling just fine. Perfect even, no need to worry." She replied once she landed on the same thick branch as Yoa.

"That's set, then." Runa chipped in once she landed herself. "We need to come up with a plan, to at least get on the same page here."

"I agree, this doesn't feel like a traditional job." Yoa nodded.

"First we should decide our posture…" Runa proposed. "Should we be hunters? Are we gonna be looking to eliminate teams? Are we gonna hide? Run?" It was perfectly reasonable to have the conversation, to consider all options as viable. Runa guessed that every other team was having this conversation right now.

"I'm sure as hell not gonna hide or run!" Kaori voiced right away. "We didn't come _AAALL _the way over here to be labeled as runners or hiders." '_And we sure as hell are not gonna do it going against these a**holes' _Kaori added mentally. Surprising even herself at the thought.

"I'll have to agree." Yoa complied. He wasn't even gonna consider running if he came to face that Kurotsuchi girl, he'd make her eat her words about Ame then and there. "Plus we're supposedly being watched. They were very open in telling us that this would be a war-zone, I don't think they'll reward running."

Runa had to agree as well, she half frowned, more out of deep thought than of anything else; she was really trying to consider everything about this, maybe if they had been so explicit about them fighting then it could have been a trick…? But she was also not looking to be labeled as a coward either, she knew what her team specialized in, and running wasn't it…

"Okay, sounds good to me. If we face anyone directly then we'll take them down." Their leader nodded. "And if we happen to sneak up on someone then we'll discuss if we engage. Deal?"

The plan sounded good enough to Kaori's and Yoa's ears. So they nodded their agreement.

* * *

"Do you see them?"

"Yes. There's three of them. Standing on a branch about 30 meters away."

"On my signal."

* * *

Once agreed on their plan they set to find some form of shelter, which would be needed for at least the first day in the forest, otherwise standing in the open would be suicide in this damned forest.

"_Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!" _The unmistakable sound of scorching flames pushing through the air filled the vicinity, _Hyō (_The ANBU agent) closed half of the distance between them easily before releasing his power.

The three Chūnin were instantly scorched in their place, the burning silhouettes dropping to the ground once the flames succumbed. "_Substitution?!_" The ANBU asked alarmed.

"_Passing Fang!" _Kiba shouted as he blasted himself towards their attacker.

Hyō swiftly bounced against the tree trunk to propel himself out of the path of Kiba's attack.

"_**DYNAMIC ENTRY**__!" _Rock Lee's blazing speed reached the ANBU even before the taijutsu user finished calling his move.

Hyō could only try and block the attack with both arms, but the sheer power of the Taijutsu user made him hear his bones crackling from the impact of Lee's kick. His body was propelled a good few feet backwards to an adjacent tree trunk. '_Damnit, I have to gain ground on them as asap!' _The ANBU managed to think in the midst of the chaos, already planning on using the trunk he was sent to to propel himself.

"_Wind Style: Johyō Spiral!" _Matsuri shouted from a far away distance, her weapon of choice shooting out of seemingly nowhere like a bullet, making a sharp unnatural curve around Hyō's legs, wrapping around them multiple times over.

Hyō quickly reached for his Tantō, planning on cutting the cable of Matsuri's Johyō.

"_Rotating Fang!" _The Inuzuka smashed onto Hyō's crossed arms; the shock making the crack on Hyō's arms that much louder.

"_Scarlett Paw!"_ A figure jumped from the cup of a tree, knife like claws cutting the Johyō's wires and slashing Kiba's shoulder on the same move; Hyō's summon, a quite oversized talking cat with rage on it's eyes and a tail split into two, made it's appearance. Sporting a Konoha's headband wrapped across its chest, and with three curved red lines around its eyes being identical to those on Hyō's ANBU mask.

"Kiba!" Rock Lee shouted worriedly, gushes of blood splashing around the trees.

Hyō managed to grip the cable before it recoiled back completely from the cut, he pulled sharply on it, making Matsuri drop from the cup of the trunk she held her weapon from, and directly towards Hyō's Tantō.

Akamaru jumped from his hideout, teeth snarling and eyes red with bloodlust, jaws locking right on Hyō's shoulder, giving Matsuri a chance to somersault away to the branch contrary to Lee's.

Hyō's body 'puffed' in a cloud of smoke, Akamaru's bite completely destroying the log from the substitution jutsu. The canine's eyes looking around for the ANBU that had hurt it's master.

"_AKAMARU WATCH-" _Kiba yelled frantically as he held his shoulder, trying to warn his partner of the fire bullet heading his way. Akamaru tried to jump out of the way but got pinned in place once Hyō's summon beast bit on Akamaru's tail. The fire bullet connected right into Akamaru's side, scorching his fur and dropping him from the sky-high tree branch and onto the floor.

"Thank you, Bakeneko." Hyō nodded to his feline partner. Standing back to back with him on the same branch, Kiba and Lee facing Bakeneko, and Hyō facing Matsuri.

Matsuri was shocked to see the ANBU's attack, judging from his moves he could have easily maimed any of them had his hits landed home. The stench of Akamaru's burnt fur and flesh reached her nostrils right away, making her ground herself to the situation, a gruesome remainder just in case she wasn't locked in already.

Kiba's jaw clenched, his already prominent fangs growing with rage as he saw the body of his lifelong partner lying about 20 meters down on the ground. His claws protruded so far from his fingers it was almost too painful to bear. He snarled fiercely, locking eyes with that wretched disgusting cat.

"_Super Fang: Single Wolf Fang!" _His beastly voice growled before blasting from the branch he was on, launching himself with so much force the branch he was on cracked in half from the pressure.

Kiba had never done the _Super Fang _alone, and he'd never done it with a shoulder as injured as his, he was so blinded by rage he didn't take into account that this was a **joined **technique, he usually balanced his power and speed with that of Akamaru's, and right now he was almost numb from one arm already, his usual thick coat fully drenched in blood on his left side.

"_Scarlett Embrace." _Bakeneko growled, pouncing Kiba almost midway, the Inuzuka's attack too out of focus and out of control to successfully pierce the feline's body. Bakeneko's front legs wrapped firmly around Kiba's torso, hind legs and 'double' tail constricting his legs, claws protruding little by little every tenth of a second, he opened his mouth and closed it around Kiba's throat, blocking his airway and restricting his moves completely.

Matsuri's eyes shot open, watching Kiba and Bakeneko fall down freely in the embrace. She almost missed Hyō jumping her in a blink, _almost…_

Rock Lee's kick smashed right onto Hyō's weapon, shattering the cold steel on impact, while Matsuri launched her Wind-Infused-Johyō right at Kiba and Bakeneko's direction; giving it all the might that fit inside her tiny frame.

No much more than a second passed between Kiba's freefall and Matsuri's and Lee's actions.

Lee's hits didn't hold back this time, quickly parring Hyō's response-hit with a knee to the sternum, Hyō launched a haymaker with his free arm, Lee intercepted it with his elbow, listening to the crack of Hyō's bones trickle up his already injured arm.

Kiba could feel the life dripping out of him, he gave his best try to free his arms, finding them as tightly restricted as if they were wrapped with steel cables. The Infernal Cat's claws already having ripped through his clothes and starting to pierce his skin; and the tight lockjaw around his neck suffocating him fully, crushing his neck more with every fraction of a second. Everything was happening in slow motion for him, but he knew the moment he reached the floor would be too late already, the Cat's teeth would crush his carotid before he even ran out of oxygen.

Matsuri's eyes were fixated on the path of her weapon, she didn't even hear Lee's defense of her, completely ignoring the morbid sound of ripping tendons and broken bones.  
Her mind had processed the plan long before her eyes locked with Lee's, she had just met her two teammates, yet she communicated flawlessly then and there.  
It rested on her, she could see every centimeter covered by her partner's trapped body on the freefall, she could see every centimeter her Johyō swallowed while traveling towards the target; but Kiba had fallen long before her actions, she swore she had shot her weapon so fast she felt her arm whiplash...

'_**Just a little more…!**_' Her mind raced, as if willing her weapon forward with the mind.

Matsuri heard a bloodchilling impact.

* * *

"What is it with giant insects in here?" Yoa asked to no one in particular. Four ten-feet tall spiders lying dead around him and the team.

"I know! I can't even-!" Kaori complained, watching Runa clean her Katana on a nearby tree.

"That's like the third batch we'd faced so far." Kaori stated, sighing annoyedly. "We must be close to their nest or something."

Runa's head popped up, her teammate was making a good point. Having spent pretty much all her life in Amegakure (excluding a few far and between experiences for missions) dense forests like this one weren't her exact area of expertise.

"Don't you hate it when she does that?" Yoa half glared at Kaori, but his words were directed to his leader.

"You're _this_ close—" Kaori signaled with her thumb and index almost touching. "—to getting your ass kicked for that."

"Would be worth it."

"Stop already…" Runa chimed in, quite amused and even smiley at her team's bickering. "Kaori's probably right. We should make our way out of here, the bugs may not pose a problem themselves, but they could distract us enough to get ambushed."

"Good enough reasoning, Mighty Leader." Yoa nodded, lightly teasing her leader with the 'nickname'.

"Of course it is, she plagiarized me." Kaori stated, walking past Yoa and swinging her hair around dismissively, close to his face.

"Alright, formation guys." Runa signaled ahead, taking the lead in the middle, Yoa being at her right, and Kaori at her left. They sprinted and jumped their way out of there.

* * *

A masked figure tilted his head a bit, taking in the team approaching his position. They had been given their instructions; the first couple of days would serve as the main funnel, which meant the ANBU, and the hunting Nin from Kiri would eliminate the most teams as possible for now.

He knew they all were trained enough to not have conflicts of interest if they faced teams from their own villages… or '_friends'._

Sai shook his head violently willing those wandering thoughts away. He was on the job and had to be professional about it.

He jumped on the direction the Chūnin team followed.

* * *

"_Super Beast Imitating Drawing._" Sai uttered, long thick serpents slithering out of his scroll, not wasting any time to attack the traveling trio.

Runa and Kaori turned around with perfect timing, Runa slashing the reptile with a swing of her sword and Kaori impaling it to the floor with her right Kusarigama.

Sai had the upper ground on them, which made him able to overlook them perfectly, the trio had been almost too in the open, standing there in a small clear between the trees.

"Your ink _reeks_ of iron." Yoa creeped with unbelievable speed though not enough, yet. He talked only after he'd swung a Kunai of his doing to Sai's neck. Sai—not being too impressed yet—blocked Yoa's swing holding his right (attacking) wrist. Sai reached for his Tantō with his free hand, quickly swinging it to cut Yoa's left ribs.

Sai's Tantō bit deep enough onto Yoa to get stuck; only it hadn't really reached any flesh, '_I'm sure I felt the Tantō connect.' _Sai reasoned immediately, but before anything else Yoa locked Sai's Tantō and arm to his own side, smirking at Sai's struggling face.

A flying Kusarigama shot right at Sai's face, he wasn't able to unlock his arm from whatever grasp had on him on top of the physical one. His only choice was to release Yoa's Kunai-wielding-hand.

Sai released Yoa's arm, twisting backwards so his other arm could rotate in Yoa's grasp and he could avoid the incoming scythe.

Kaori's scythe missed.

But Runa's Katana didn't. She cut diagonally right into Sai's torso, slashing all the way from Sai's shoulder to his waist. Runa felt and heard the metal of her Katana sing as the edge cut its way through.

Sai's body dropped down the branch on a black puddle of ink.

"It was just a clone...!" Runa gritted her teeth. Immediately looking around for the _real_ ANBU attacking them.

"_Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!" _Sai shot out of the ground, right behind the only member of Nin Team K that was currently standing on ground level, _Kaori._

Kaori wasn't that fast, not enough, she turned around as fast as she could, only in time to receive a breaking blow from Sai's fist, connecting right on her stomach, blowing all the wind out of her; Sai followed this with a roundhouse kick that connected on Kaori's cheek, sending her tumbling a good distance away from Sai.

"_Kaori!" _Runa yelled, pouncing towards Sai, but finding her body unable to do so, the puddle of ink from Sai's clone forming a thick paste that bind her feet into place with the branch. "_Yoa!_"

The Ame Nin got the words of his leader right away, jumping out of the puddle's constraints easily by manipulating the iron in it—he'd already used his defense when Sai tried to cut him, shielding his side with a patch of metalic chips that swallowed and trapped Sai's Tantō—but now his focus was offense instead of defense; he reached Sai in a blink, posture crouched right before Sai; the Konoha ANBU was briefly unresponsive from the unusual posture of his attacker, but Yoa was too slow to land a hit, Sai stroke down with his Tantō right away.

Yoa's left hand moved automatically, grasping Sai's Tantō right by the edge! '_Gotcha.' _Yoa thought, breaking the Tantō in half with his left hand at the exact same moment his right hand punched Sai's right kneecap. He'd done the same trick he did back on the branch, only this time the chips covered his palm instead of his ribs.

Sai's eyes shot open from beneath his mask, he had hardset training, the rules and responses of combat had been drilled into his mind in order to turn an assault around in his favor. But those rules and knowledge weren't too useful when your attacker acted illogically! He wasn't supposed to _reach_ for Sai's weapon; now he had a pretty much useless blade and an injured knee, he'd felt his kneecap slide out of place right after Yoa's punch.

"_Lightning Style: Lighting Razors!" _Small sparks of electricity enveloped Runa's body, 'cutting' herself out of Sai's ink. She sped towards Sai and Yoa with her arms crossed, unfolding them with an electric shock right in Sai's chest. The blow sending Sai flying backwards.

Yoa smiled at Runa, both sure they had beaten the attacker this time. Kaori was already reincorporating herself, her Kusarigama just retreating back inside her sleeve.

"_Hiding in Mist technique!" _A Kiri's Hunting Nin shouted, going through the hand signs right away. A thick, foggy mist enveloping everyone and everything in the vicinity.

"Kaori, Yoa! Formation!" Runa shouted right away, none of them was a sensor nin, she needed to have her team accounted for, she could hardly even see Yoa right beside her.

Kaori knew that wouldn't be too possible, she was at least 30 feet away from her teammates, and moving around the mist wouldn't be smart right now.

"_Kao-!" _Yoa shouted for his teammate, not being able to finish his sentence before a razor-sharp Ice shard cut the right side of his neck. "_Shit!" _Yoa cursed, not being able to see the attack coming at all.

"Yoa, what's-" Runa asked out loud before another shard opened a wide gash on her left thigh.

"_Magnet Release, right?" _The eerie Nin from Kiri muttered, chuckling mockingly. "_Try to control this_!"

Yoa and Runa listened intently but the voice, trying to triangulate it, but it didn't seem to have a set source.

The shard of ice impacted right above Runa's left breast, looking for the heart. Though this time the shard shattered before it reached the target.

Runa sighed in brief relief, she would have never seen the hit coming. "Thanks, Yoa." She immediately knew her teammate had saved her this time, black shiny debris was floating around them. Yoa had deployed a defensive mechanism for them.

"I don't need to control it, I just need to _use _it!" Runa went through some hand-seals right away. "_Lightning Style: Piercing Static!"_

Kaori knew that wasn't good, she jumped away in the first direction she could before sparks of electricity traveled through the Mist, the humidity conducting the electricity right to its source.

A loud groan of pain from the Kiri Hunter was heard, the mist instantly started to disappear.

"_Assasination Technique!" _Sai attacked, wielding his Tantō, which was infused by hardened ink, a tight tendril of ink could be seen wrapped around his wounded knee, supporting the joint.

Yoa didn't see it coming, Kaori did, she launched her scythe; but Sai's movements were smooth and calculated even while injured, he weaved around the path of the scythe and wrapped his arm around its chain, tangling Kaori's weapon around his arm as ink tendrils ran along her chain and towards Kaori.

Yoa barely ducked under one of Sai's slashes, twisting his body to kick Sai's knee again; but an ice shard embedded itself on Yoa's leg before he could hit Sai.

Runa stepped over to aid Yoa, but the Kiri Hunter flickered right in front of her, a couple of twin swords at the ready, he started to slash, bob, and weave; his two swords clashing against Runa's Katana.

Sai's ink tendrils had reached Kaori, climbing under her sleeves and wrapping themselves up her neck, starting to constrict the air out of her lungs and shutting down her airway.

Sai kept the hold on the chain, tugging hard on it, which made Kaori's ink binds tighten with every twist and tug. With his free hand he tried to impale Yoa to the ground, Sai's ink blade elongating with his thrust.

Yoa managed to push himself off the ground with his arms, evading Sai's blade and kicking it further down with his heel. Sai tried to free his Tantō from the ground, but it was fully stuck. Yoa went to kick his face, Sai was fast enough to block it and grip his foot.

Kaori felt Sai's tendrils crush her ribs, her eyes almost popped out, she saw her two teammates battling one Jōnin each, her fury raged even more now, her anger making her yellow eyes flare wildly with bloodlust; the only thing in her mind was the Kiri's Hunter mocking laughter. She moved her hands flashingly quick through hand-seals, then reached for her chain and wrapped both hands around it.

"_Fire Style: Hell's Chains!" _Kaori was able to mutter before the chain that Sai held burst into wild flames, burning the flesh of Sai's hand right off, his black ink evaporating right away and releasing Kaori's body as she coughed aggressively.

Yoa took advantage of Sai's shock and landed a kick right in his face with his free foot. He felt Sai's bones crack under his toes, the ANBU's full body slamming down to the ground, Sai's skull ricocheting off the floor in a gruesomely crude fashion.

The Kiri Hunter was winning some territory, making Runa back down more and more with each swing of his swords. '_Cowering like a woman! I'll take that sword right out of her hands once I'm done with her.' _The Kiri Hunter thought loudly, pointedly swinging down hard on Runa, breaking her defense and slashing her forehead.

'_**POOF**_' Runa's figure disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the Hunter's sword 'cutting' cleanly right through the air.

"_Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu." _Runa's voice was heard just as her hands shot out of the ground and pulled the Kiri Hunter down in a hole, the crater closing on and constricting him into place until only his head was above ground level. Soon after Runa jumped out from the ground, she'd deployed her decoy just before the mist dissipated completely, letting her clone do the fighting for her until the Hunter stepped right on her trap. Her eyes were locked on those of the Hunter's mask. "You're not exactly '_Hot Tan'_, but you can handle a sword decently enough, darling." She openly taunted the man.

"_**MOTHERF-**_" Kaori's furious tirade was interrupted by more aggressive coughing on her part. She could still feel the punishment on her neck while she stood there, feeling the bruises around her throat; and the sharp, stinging pain of her crushed larynx.

Yoa's thigh hurt—yes—but he found himself able to move it perfectly well if he ignored the pain; the gash was about three inches long and one inch wide, his fibrous muscle completely visible just below the torn clothing.

"It's okay, Kao-" Yoa was at Kaori's side right away, knowing the ANBU was unconscious, and the Hunter trapped.

"_**IT'S NOT OKAY!**_" Kaori barked aggressively at Yoa. Much more so than she'd ever done to _him_ ever  
before; and he'd given her good reasons in the past, he'd even seen her in quite more dire situations than this one.

"Kaori calm-" Runa was about to try and calm down her friend, she had of course seen Kaori getting attacked, she more than anyone else was aware of Kaori's situation mid-battle… but that kind of things just _happen_, she had been through worse, Yoa had been through worse, Kaori had been through worse. And she'd never reacted like _that_.

"_**Don't tell me to calm down!**_" Kaori replied. "**He almost killed me!**" Kaori shouted and pointed at Sai. "_**They**_ **almost kill **_**us!**_ **They certainly tried!**" She reasoned as she glared down at the Hunter currently trapped in the ground.

Earth style wasn't one of this particular Kiri's Nin domains, far from it. And that girl's technique wasn't lacking power at all. He knew he was at enemy's mercy, and he knew Sai would have acted already had he been responsive.

Yoa looked over at Runa, but Runa's eyes were fixated on Kaori.

"_Calm. Down_." Runa sternly told Kaori.

Kaori's eyes shifted from her prey to her leader's. Kaori's jaw was locked and her flaring eyes screamed bloody murder.

Even amidst the deadly beast-filled forest the sudden silence was chilling. Had a tree leaf fallen to the ground its sound would've probably been heard by any of the present people.

Kaori was by far the better sealer of the group, whether that was hand-seals or otherwise. Yoa was leaps and bounds the fastest. Runa was infinitely more experienced and groomed. They all knew their roles, they all knew each other…

They all knew what was about to happen.

"_**KAORI DON'T!**_" Yoa's voice cried out a plea. But he wasn't fast enough; neither was Runa.

"_**Fire Release: HELLFIRE PIT!**_"

* * *

Temari was proud to be a Proctor. It wasn't like the Shinobi Union was running around handing random people highly regarded titles and responsibilities, and seeing how things were taking shape, The Union Jōnin Exams would probably be a one-time-thing; which meant being a proctor in them was even _more_ of a select group. She knew that even if the Exams proved to be utterly uninteresting—something she would happily bet **against**—the fact that they even happened in the first place would pass the test of time as a unique and legendary event.

But right now she hated it all.

**Hated** _**them!**_

Her eyes were idly shifting from screen to screen, watching live what the cameras were recording… But she wasn't _watching_, her mind was on another place altogether. Namely the place of a certain lazy-ass pineapple haired Jōnin that was running (okay, slouching-through) laps in her mind.

They hadn't had the time to share that breakfast they'd talked about, Temari was rapidly summoned by a fellow organizer of the Exams and barely even found the time to change her clothes before meeting Darui at the Training Hall and kicking off the Exams.  
She knew Shikamaru got it—of course he did—but it was apparent in his eyes that he was at least as disappointed by the interruption as herself.

And she didn't even want to talk about how she _had _to spend the entire duration of the First Test in this damned tower. Darui was actually pretty good company once you got to know him, he was polite, smart, and surprisingly funny after you got the hang of his humor; but he wasn't Shikamaru and right now the only person she wanted to be with was _Shikamaru_! She knew she was being childish and far more clingy than was expected from an Elite Kunoichi…  
But that was bullshit and everyone knew it! She'd seen very powerful Ninja become absolute putty in a loved one's hands—and though she'd never admit so out loud—she knew it was only natural to be in a blizz at the beginning of… whatever it was that they had. She was smart enough that way.

"_Temari! We have a situation!" _The voice of Darui was heard on Temari's headset, bringing her back down to Earth right away.

* * *

"_**WHAT DID YOU DO?" **_Yoa shouted at Kaori, eyes wide open, fixated on the immolated carcass of a man that used to be one of Kiri's Hunter Nins. The pressure of the sudden burst of flames had enough force to push the upper part of the corpse above ground—the soil trapping him almost melted at the edges— but it was all charred now, nothing but black melted skin and bone that barely resembled a human form of any kind, the wooden mask of the nin was reduced to a pile of ashes instantly; they realized he had a headband underneath it only because the melted metal was still burning red hot and sizzling on the burnt remains of its wearer.

But the worst part was the _**smell**_…

There was nothing more disgusting than the smell a human body released after being burnt to the core; the smell of hair dissolved onto the scalp, nails getting eaten out by the flames right through the cuticle, tendons and ligaments shrunken down and barely hidden by the film of carbonized skin above them, eye's burst by the sudden boiling of the organ, eye sockets black and filled with sizzling ashes. The few synthetic fabrics the wearer donned plastered in a melted puddle to the appendix they clothed… If Hell really was like a million souls burning, then just standing amidst the fumes was surely enough punishment for a lifetime of sin.

Kaori's eyes saw right through her victim… The once flaming irises of the girl were now a pure reflection of confusion over a glazed sclera, eyebrows trembling and knitted together.  
This wasn't her first kill, far from it, this wasn't even her first execution; but it had been the first time her mind had lapsed and skipped through the battle; the first time she couldn't remember the motions of her hands and the beating of her heart, she couldn't remember the surge of heat that rose up her body when she channeled fire.

The last thing she remembered was black tendrils slithering up her body, constricting her like iron vices, but after that… nothing. A vague yelling from her friend, and the _smell…_

"_**Kaori!**_" Runa closed the distance to her teammate, she knew there was no fix-up to this. They had talked about it, they _would_ engage, they would fight tooth-and-nail for their survival; but they wouldn't take a life if they could avoid it, the three of them had enough rage inside them to be able to kill a 'Chūnin of the Five', but self-control was as—if not more—important than brute strength and sharp skills, they came here to get recognized, promoted, employed… they didn't come here to murder, they didn't come here to conquer, they didn't come here to make _another_ Village miserable. They came here to make things better…

Kaori retreated her hands, freeing her wrists from the grip of Yoa as if it were his hands that summoned flames.

She wasn't scared by the sight, no. None of them were. They'd seen far worse.  
In her temmate's case they reacted like that just because of a previously agreed principle.  
But in her own case? She was _**terrified**_, terrified that for even a minute she wasn't in control, that she wasn't the one with both hands on the leash, that she wasn't only not a rower on the boat; but that she didn't even feel the river lashing out.

"We need to go before more Jōnin arrive." Runa, still in the best mental state out of the three, commanded. They couldn't waste more time, the ANBU was still unconscious, and if her thoughts were correct not only more Jōnin would come, but the proctors would as well. One cadaver was enough for today.

"**Move!**" Runa yelled once more once her friends didn't respond, tugging Yoa to Kaori's side and herself taking the other; the two pretty much dragged the girl out of there. Kaori didn't complain, didn't fight back their holds, she barely even blinked as her feet carried her by muscle memory from leap-to-leap.

Night was already falling, and The Forest of Death was only just awakening…

**End of Day One.  
****.**

**_To be continued..._**

**Note: **We finally got some action here. Let me know what you thought of the fighting sequences! See ya.


	8. Day Two: 'Somebody Help Me Dig These'

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.

**Warning**: Very descriptive violence and course language is present troughout the Chapter.

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Seven**

**Day Two: _'Somebody Help Me Dig These Graves'_  
**

The sight wasn't a welcome one. Thankfully the available agents deployed had taken care of the remains, that way someone made sure that no animals or other beasts defiled the corpse of their comrade until the proctors arrived in the morning…

Not that it hadn't been defiled enough already.

"How's Sai?" Darui asked the Sunagakure Kunoichi beside him. His eyes still fixated straight down.

"One of the Hunters from Kiri knew enough about medical ninjutsu to treat him." Temari replied, eyes stagnant ahead as well. "They said he wasn't in mortal danger or had any critical damage done." Really, it didn't make sense at all. '_They had him…'_ Temari thought; Sai was presumably unconscious at least at the same the… _situation_ took place. "They took him to the tower in the meantime. We have medical attention there."

Once the body cooled down, the scene became even worse (visually at least, since they didn't have to deal with the smell right now), every ounce of water had long left the body, there was no sizzling, no smoke or vapor; but that only meant the body had shrunken down to a fraction of the size the once mighty Ninja was. And for his teammates—the Kiri Hunters—the experience was far worse…

They had to sit down by what used to be their associate, _friend_ even to some of them. They had to sit there and listen all night at the disgusting whistle of steam leaving a charred body, they listened to every little crack the remaining bones made every fraction of the hour, they sat there and took a bite of food, and slept beside a body that was actively getting more and more deformed by the second, that twisted inside that wretched hole until the one couldn't possibly assume there was ever a spine holding the body straight.

"Will we take any measure?" Darui asked, finally taking his eyes off the body to look over at Temari.

"You know we can't."

"Only we _can."_

"No we _can't._" Temari stated, turning to hold Darui's gaze. "We made it pretty clear before the Exams started, everyone knew this could happen. They were all volunteers, their Kages had been preparing them for this for months."

Darui knew what she was saying—she was right afterall—but still, he didn't even feel like forgiving himself for suggesting a twist of the rules. He was a warrior if there ever was one; but perhaps the past War had softened everyone a bit, before that Darui couldn't have cared less for a Nin from another village being blown out of this war… But now? Now he couldn't help but think that this could've been avoided.

"What if we underestimated the teams?" Darui asked promptly.

"What do you mean? We had files, we had-"

"They all survived the War." Darui interrupted Temari. "It hardened us all, maybe they are Chūnin only in name, no one would have survived what we all survived while being a tame Ninja. You saw what I saw back in the Hall… A lot of these teams are looking forward to this encounters. They want to be hunted."

"What do you mean? They _**are **_Chūnin, whether that's by name or not that's what they are!" Temari's frown deepened, fed more by thought than anger.

"May I remind you of the 'legitimate' rank those who saved us all had back then?" Darui didn't concede. But he also was humble enough to accept that it had been two Konoha Shinobi that had saved the world, saved him… Two Konoha '_**Genins'**__._

Darui's words were true, and they hit home. Temari knew it, everybody knew it; but evidence didn't lie either, a handful of teams had been eliminated already in the first day! There's _always_ over-achievers in these things, she knew that perfectly, she'd been one of those overachievers as well.

"And may I remind you that these kids didn't even fight in the war, Darui?" Temari's voice was firm. She was a perfectionist, she wasn't a slacker, she didn't meet things halfway, she didn't fail! But even then she was having a hard time trying not to put this body on her conscience.

"Maybe they didn't fight in _**our**_ war, Temari…" Darui replied, skipping over the part where they were her exact age; He took a last glance at her and at the cadaver before finally jumping away from the scene and back to the tower.

* * *

"How are we feeling?" Kurotsuchi asked her team as she stretched her right arm over her chest, a confident but relaxed smile lacing her lips.

"Solid, pretty solid I'd say." Karui replied, yawning deeply as she scratched her neck. "Really that sausage fest felt more like a Genin team than a Chūnin team.

A huffing chuckle escaped Kurotsuchi's lips. Karui was right, they all were blowing this whole thing out of proportion, the first other participating team they'd faced didn't even make them sweat. If the rest was to be like this then they might as well just lie around and wait for their promotions altogether.

Hinata had a smile on her face, she'd never been a self-assured person… _Courageous_ yes! Without question—not that she acknowledged it anyway—but self-assured never. Even after deciding she would participate in the Exams she had doubts about her skills, she doubted she'd be on par with everyone else, most people believed it had been Naruto who convinced her to take the Exams; but they'd be wrong, that decision had been a personal one, a decision that no one could have made her change her mind about… She might have doubts, she might be insecure, but she wasn't going to run away now, she wasn't going to fall short once again. She had something to prove to _herself, _she had to make herself proud.

And Hinata was doing just that.

"You were sick back there, Hinata!" Kurotsuchi uttered, she didn't make compliments often, the few times she did they were as honest as ever; and this time wasn't an exception.

Karui was still quite amused that Kurotsuchi had next to no tact even while being a member of Iwagakure's most Legendary Clan… but she had to agree, Hinata had kicked some serious ass back there.

"I-I like to think I did alright." Hinata replied, subtle smile growing just a bit at on corner. It wasn't that often she got compliments aimed at her skills.

"Are you joking?" Karui couldn't stop herself from replying. "You took two at a time head-on for a few while and they didn't even know what hit them."

"I suppose I did more than alright…" Hinata giggled a little, more of a nervous tick than anything else, her cheeks were reddening a little around the edges.

"_That's the way!"_ Kurotsuchi exclaimed, she knew that as a leader she had to do more than just fighting, directing them, and taking care of morale was an important role as well.

"Let's head out and see what else we can get our hands on." Karui proposed, feeling her blood start running alive once again.

"I agree!" Kurotsuchi punched her fists together. "Let's blow some more of these teams out of the water." But she was shook out of her trance when a fist came into view before her.

Hinata (cheeks blushing) had her right arm extended, fist closed and presumably ready for some 'bumping'.

This elicited smiles from both of her teammates.

"We're so gonna win these exams."

* * *

The morning after wasn't easy on anyone.

"I'm tired of listening to your stupid charade again and again!" Kaori replied bitingly, her nostrils flared and her teeth gritted together after every word.

"I don't care if you're tired or not!" Runa responded right back, taking a step forward to tower over her teammate. "I _**am**_ your leader whether you want it or not! You had orders! You had directions! We weren't to execute anyone just for a whimp of frustration!"

Yoa tried to keep to himself for the moment, he'd pretty much done so the night before. Ugly words had been said last night—and he knew he was capable of saying them just as well as his teammates did—which was the main reason he chose not to intervene unless it was necessary.

Kaori listened to Runa… Over and over she'd listened to Runa. '_What happened out there? Who told you to do that? Why didn't you stop? You acted recklessly out there! You acted like a common thug!...'_ Runa's words were severe, but this wasn't the first time she got chastised by her leader—God knew their first days as a team were laced with quite open hostility—it wasn't even the worse one…

But this particular time Kaori _knew_ she was in the wrong… Only _**she**_ wasn't?  
It was easy to accept punishment and discipline when you acted without thought, when your acts endangered the mission; hell, Kaori would rather get insulted for screwing up than getting a pat on the back.

Only it wasn't Kaori who acted this time… '_It was-' _She didn't even want to think what it was. But it wasn't a someone; that wasn't Kaori's brain taking the lead, it wasn't her heart thumping in her chest, it wasn't her hands running through seals, not her eyes locking down a prey, not her mind… not her decisions.

"-You're supposed to be an Elite Ninja! We've gone through worse than that! Where's your discipline? Where's your poise? Where's your-"

"_**SHUT UP!**_" Kaori screamed, certainly loud enough that it was heard through the forest.

Yoa's eyes widened, he blinked a couple of times; it wasn't that often that either of them talked back to Runa when they were handling business. They _did_ have a hierarchy, a structure, everyone knows that no unit could ever work without a leader, and the base to all of that structure is respect. At least respect for their leader.

"**Shut the Hell up!**" Kaori repeated instantly. "**Shut your damn mouth already!**" Her volume was much lower than her first response, but it was still clear she wasn't exactly whispering.

"What did you-" Runa leaned over, jaw locking down as she stared down Kaori.

"I don't care for your words anymore! Stop already! I'm tired of listening to your stupid soft words over and over!" Kaori stared right up at Runa, closing the distance between them and not taking a step back from the taller woman.

"_What are we here for?_" Kaori continued. "_Did you come here to lick some boots and look pretty_?" Kaori's intrusions were flowing out of her mouth, _yes_ Runa's continuous rant got to her nerves; but most of all (not that Kaori would ever say so, ever) her words were fueled by fear, by the sheer terror of what could signify for her and her friends if she ever lost control of herself again. By _**knowing**_ it was herself that was wrong; she was just letting her mind make excuses for herself, and she was letting her mouth say all those words.

No. She'd rather fight against them than letting the truth be known; she'd lash out, punch and kick, scratch and bite, but she'd never tell them that she'd finally lost it. _Anything_ but that.

"_You've become soft! I'm tired of you! You're gonna get all of us killed if you keep tip-toeing around because you're scared of the consequences!" _Kaori stabbed her finger on Runa's chest. "_What's next? Dropping to your knees in front of the Kages and-"_

"Kaori!" Yoa walked over to his friends, separating them with each arm and scowling at both. "Enough, what's wrong with you? Quiet down already."

"Don't _even_ talk to me right now." Kaori slapped Yoa's arm away, directing her gaze to him.

"What about you? Talking about soft—" Kaori's enraged eyes were something Yoa had never been on the receiving end of. "—how about defending that fucking _Naruto_ guy and his little princess? Now you've forgotten about it all? They throw a bone at you and suddenly everything's okay?"

Yoa wasn't about to let her talk to him like that… She _knew_ that he knew what was War's cost better than most. And the fact that it was Kaori spouting those words made them hurt even more.

"The hell's your problem? Look at yourself! Get a hold of yourself!" Yoa replied.

"And you grow a spine! What kind of man defends the guy that sent his village to shit?" Kaori barked. "What? You defend Naruto for killing Pain?" Kaori's next words would haunt her until her dying day, she was grasping at straws, she knew so; everyone did it sooner or later, everyone defended themselves even after knowing they were in the wrong, everyone dug their own hole wider and wider… But not like this. Not to… Not to a loved one.

"What's next, Yoa? What's next? What other piece of shit are you going to defend next? Are you going to mourn _Pain_ now? Are you gonna defend _him_ now?" Kaori chukled mockingly. "_**Maybe him murdering your parents made sense after all**__. _Right_?"_

Runa's fury died instantly. It was like someone took the life out of her. And she could see Kaori saw right through her own mistake right away; the woman's face shifted from petty fury to the self-realization of what she'd said. There wasn't any take backs now.

"Yoa…" Runa reached over for Yoa's wrist.

Yoa slapped it away hard enough Runa felt actual pain run up her arm.

"Let's get a move on." Yoa spoke dryly, the scowl from before was gone. All expression on his face was gone now. His eyes were vacant and his jaw was set. The man jumped ahead without giving the two girls so much as a glance.

* * *

"People can't see this, _Temari." _Shikamaru's voice reached her ears just a fraction of a second after the image on her screen uttered them.

This was far from the ideal interaction she wished they'd be having after the last time they saw each other. But since Shikamaru was the Chief Coordinator ('_Who came up with that title anyway?')_ of the entire Exams; that meant he needed to get informed when anything notable happened.

Which meant Shikamaru had a cadaver on his hands and the need to come up with an explanation for the Mizukage.

"How can people have seen what happened?" Darui—who sat beside Temari—asked with a raised eyebrow.

Temari turned her head over to Darui, as did the screen-version of Shikamaru.

"You think that giant screen Konoha embedded right on the center of it's main street was just to look pretty or what?" Temari barked to her partner, which in turn gave Shikamaru a small headache; no one needed more hostility amongst villages.

"Sorry. That makes sense." Was all Darui replied, not even acknowledging Temari's temper.

By now Temari was well aware of Darui's particular… 'approach' to life. Which meant she knew perfectly well Darui wasn't the kind to get offended by pretty much anything.  
Really they were the ideal pair when it came to work, she'd lash out at him, he'd say sorry, and then they'd do their job. That was sharp thinking from Shikamaru.

"We don't even know if people saw it, Shikamaru." Temari went back to argue with Shikamaru. This past couple of years technology had made frightening advances, advances the Shinobi Union decided to use in its favor. That's how they managed to hide cameras throughout the forest, how they managed to get the live feed to the tower, and to Konoha's screen. But new technology always had flaws, flaws that could prove helpful this particular time.

"It's only one screen, more than 20 teams, and about a hundred cameras…!" Temari tried to reason. "We've people working around the clock trying to show anything interesting on the screen—and for the most part we have—but I don't even think anyone was fast enough to show that one on the screen. They were watching Lee's team fight Hyō."

"_Even if they didn't_—" Shikamaru sneered. "—people can't see that, if you show a death in a fight then… _maybe_, but we can't show executions in the middle of a Peace Summit." Ideally not at all.

"Sorry, but—" Darui interjected. "—what's the objective of any of this, then?" Darui questioned his coordinator. "If it wasn't the right time to hold an event where people are encouraged to kill each other then why have it at all?"

Darui had actually read Temari's mind, it was beyond annoying how they all were getting these mixed signals from everyone. '_We stand for peace!' _The Raikage announces in a ceremony. '_Let them know there's no holding back now. Assure them no death will be punished.' _He told them behind closed doors.

Shikamaru sighed and threw his head back. "_Troublesome…" _The Nara muttered under his breath before massaging his neck and looking back at the camera.

"I wish it was that easy. But thing is; _**we**_ know what's behind this peace. We know the Kages' words are truthful, we know everyone is complying with the rules, that bonds grew tighter after the war… but there's always renegades. Whether they are civilians or small groups of Shinobis holding grudges there will always be people that hate each other. You two know true peace is impossible to achieve, let's not pretend otherwise."

Temari and Darui looked at each other, silently agreeing with every word Shikamaru was saying, they pretty much knew what he'd say next already.

"We're just trying to not give anyone more reasons to do so..." Shikamaru stated. "Anyway if anything like this happens again we'll have to do something about it." The Nara shut down the communication after that, barely locking eyes with Temari before the screen went black.

It had sounded more like a threat than a warning to Temari's ears. '_Would they even dare to shut this down? Was it really that bad?' _Temari groaned and threw her head back. They'd be throwing months and months of hundreds of people's work away if that were to happen; and in a sense it all rested on hers and Darui's shoulders.

"That was so—"

"—Troublesome." Darui deadpanned, finishing Temari's sentence.

* * *

"What d'ya think? They seem solid but I say we can do it."

"I don't think that's even a question."

"How would we do it?"

"Hm…"

"Okay, okay, I got it: ..."

* * *

"Seriously, Yukata. You don't have to give him your food. I don't think it's wise to be all hungry while fighting." Tenten tried to reason with her teammate.

"I'm alright, really." Yukata assured Tenten. "As much as I like food I don't really have the need to stuff myself like our Captain does."

Yukata then realized that sounded at least a bit rude, so she grinned to her leader in a repentant manner. "No offense!"

"None taken." The grave, raspy voice of the burly Chōji Akimichi replied with a full smile as he eagerly received some of Yukata's food. He engulfed it in a single bite.

"_You should at least take your time with it!"_ Tenten reprimanded her Konoha fellow, agitating the big steel mace she was just polishing.

Yukata huffed chuckingly at Chōji, she really liked the man; he was one of the gentlest persons she'd ever met and almost always had at least the hint of a smile on his lips. If anything his attitude was contagious; and for what she'd heard he was also savagely powerful…

That was a sight she was also eager to see.

"Alright. I think we should start to move a bit—" Chōji announce to his team. He may very well be one of the calmest, most easy going shinobi in Konoha; but that didn't mean he didn't take his job seriously. He'd allow many things, but letting one of his teammates (and friends) getting hurt wasn't one of those, much less while being their leader.

"—we've spent a good amount here and we're open to-" The Akimichi's words were interrupted when his heavy feet suddenly buried to the ground beneath him. The soil reaching just above his knee.

"Wha-" Tenten was about to ask before she was struck on her gut by a spike of rock that shoot out of the ground, knocking the air out of her completely; and lightly piercing her skin with it's tip.

Yukata didn't lose time, she leapt from the ground as high as her legs let her, eyes scanning her surroundings wildly. She wouldn't be caught off guard.

A frontal slash swung right at Yukata's torso, Karui roaring with her lightning-infused Katana, erratic bolts traveling up and down the polished steel.

"Got you!" Yukata shouted happily, a ferocious grin lacing her lips as she caught the blade with a Kunai, she waited a second after locking eyes with her foe before transferring wind to her Kunai, causing the lightning Katana to recoil back enough for Yukata to land a wild kick on Karui's mid-section.

Kurotsuchi watched Karui get hit, not enough to cause damage, but it was enough to send her to the ground. It was now or never; Kurotsuchi leaped out with her enormous rock fist to punch the trapped Akimich with all her might.

An equally gigantic maze smashed right against Kurotsuchi's fist with enough force to deviate the hit.

"Thank you, Tenten." Chōji nodded at her teammate before expanding his lower half enough to break his earth bounds.

Yukata was close to landing right alongside her teammates.

Until she felt a sharp, stinging pain on her innards, a vacuum blast sending her crumbling away from her team.

"_Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm_—" Hinata came out from her hide, smirking at the corner of her mouth. "_**Successful**__."_

"Yukata!" Tenten lost her focus right after she saw the pained face of the Suna Kunoichi, her mind tricking her when Yukata's face was replaced by a pair of lavender eyes…

Tenten shook her head, looking back at her foes for long enough to see the Rock-Fist slam right on her right cheek. She felt her jaw slide out of place and her whole spine crack from the violent whiplash. She was slammed right against a rock-wall that protruded out of the ground to violently crush her body with a single blow.

"_**Human Bullet Tank!**_" Chōji's massive rolling form blasted with enough force to shake the ground, her target: Kurotsuchi.

Kurotsuchi was barely able to process the attack, '_How can a man that size move that fast?!' _Her mind screamed. Her hands moved by pure reflex, trying to come up with enough seals for a jutsu that would save their user.

Too slow.

"_**Cloud Style: Front Beheading!**_" Karui came out of seemingly nowhere and clashed against Chōji's speeding boulder with her weapon, swinging against the rolling mass with all the strength her body could muster.

A cloud of smoke blasted higher than the cups of the trees, the expansive wave completely ripping branches from their trees and sending them leaps away from the clash point.

Only Hinata was able to see through the cloud of dust flying about, her Byakugan fully activated and searching for her teammates and enemies alike.

Karui and Chōji were sent flying backwards but both regained their footing as soon as they reached the ground; both were locked-in on each other now, even though they couldn't see through the dust they sprinted in a straight line to defeat the other; the Akimichi flailed his colossal fist forward.

The Kumo Kunoichi, deflected it to the left with a powerful swing of her Katana, the clash once again sending waves through the landscape, this time pushing most of the dark golden dust away.

Kurotsuchi took the message right away, she didn't bother thanking her teammate and went right to the just-recuperating Tenten. Her fist collided right at Tenten's gut; the perforation wound from the stone-spike sent a shock around Tenten's organs, but she wasn't able to completely acknowledge it before Kurotsuchi's other fist connected on her dislocated jaw, sending her backwards to the ground once again.

Hinata _had_ to pretend… Pretend because the Byakugan saw _**everything**_ she saw the struggling hits Yukata directed her way, she also saw how her Vacuum Palm had done horrors to Yukata's chakra network. The girl would fall down on her own sooner rather than later. That wasn't the issue...

Because her Byakugan also caught how Tenten was getting pummeled by Kurotsuchi, Hinata's leader and teammate.

Tenten, the perky girl that was Hinata's dear friend.  
Tenten who accompanied Hinata to her wedding.  
Tenten who was assigned in a team with the single two most hardworking Ninjas alive, and with the greatest prodigy the Hyuga clan had ever seen.  
Tenten who wasn't even close to being the most hardworking person on her _team.  
_Tenten who couldn't become a Medical Nin, who tried to emulate her biggest idol and missed over and over again.  
Tente who worked diligently all her life to become the greatest Kunoichi in all of Konoha…  
Tenten who fell short. Very short. _  
_  
Tenten who grew so close and personal with Hinata's cousin Neji that one could only wonder…  
Tenten who lost her best friend, her sparring partner, her toughest critic and biggest admiror…  
Tenten who lost _**everything **_the day Neji sacrificed his life for _Hinata.  
_Tenten who couldn't even protect the person she'd grown to love the most in the world…

_Tenten who always fell short._

Hinata closed her eyes in a completely futile attempt to shut her view from what was happening. Trying to ignore the pain it caused her to know that Tenten had lost before she stepped into the forest, that it was _her_ fault Neji got taken away from Tenten...

She caught every single move Kurotsuchi made, how relentless the Iwa Warrior was, how every crack and silent plea of mercy from Tenten's body wasn't enough to satiate her hunger for dominance.

Hinata shut her eyes as hard as she could. She could only pretend.

* * *

Yoa was still ahead of them, jumping through the last rays of sunshine; and even if Kaori and Runa were interested in shaking him from his solace they knew they wouldn't be able to do it. If he wanted to be caught he'd say so; otherwise they'd have no chance.

All the tension between Kaori and Runa was long gone, both shared pained, timid glances every few minutes. Runa couldn't even muster the strength to hold Kaori guilty for what she'd said, she knew that were Kaori capable of doing or giving anything—_**ANYTHING**_—away to do so she'd do it without hesitation. She knew how much pain Kaori was feeling right now; and she felt guilty considering Kaori when Yoa was the one that had been attacked.

Yoa's legs stopped on a high branch, his eyes looking way down ahead.

"What's up?" Kaori spoke in a desperate attempt to get her friend to talk to her or at least acknowledge her in any way.

Yoa nodded ahead, Runa's eyes following the direction of his eyes.

"A team." Runa spoke, and not _any_ team.

"Alright. Here's what we're gonna do." Runa called for her team's attention.

Yoa blasted away and straightforward to the enemy team.

"_**YOA!**_" Both his teammates shouted at the speeding man.

* * *

Team Shinomoi was taking a breather after their rounds. Night was already falling on them, and they were thinking of making this their place to pass the night on. They hadn't had much action yet, only some beasts and animals.

But all that changed when the loud cry of a familiar name reached their ears.

All of them looked up at the two Kunoichis they've heard scream, standing on the branch… '_But where was-?'_

Yoa's knee stabbed right in the center of Omoi's chest, his eyes full of fury and lust.

"_Shit!" _Runa gritted. The impact had been impressive, the ground literally crattered around Omoi and Yoa. And the tremors broke the branch she and Kaori were standing on.

"_Let's go!" _Kaori shouted as she moved down to the scene. It took Runa a second to comply, but she did.

Ino and Shino couldn't even take in what had happened, one second everything was perfect; and the other it was pure mayhem, Omoi was nowhere to be seen and two girls were falling down to attack them.

"Ino! Left!" Shino was able to signal to his teammate.

"Got it!" Ino replied, dashing left and throwing a barrage of Throwing Stars at Kaori, who blocked them away by using her Scythes.

Runa slashed at Shino, cutting him in half as his form dissipated into a cloud of bugs.  
Bugs that started to lash at Runa aggressively; she immediately counter attacked by quick slashes of her Katana.

Omoi's eyes blurred out the images in front of him, nothing but a purple sky almost completely enveloped by the night, edges of the crattered ground above him and some dust and leaves rustled up. He felt his chest hurt with every thump of his heart, but thankfully he was a tough one, he didn't feel much more than bruised ribs and sternum. That he could handle, but the brief concussion that ailed him was another thing.

His ears were ringing, eyes couldn't focus, light hurt his head. Those were things he couldn't exactly toughen up at the moment.

Shino's bugs were proving very problematic to Runa, she slashed batch after batch but they didn't stop.

"_Lightning Style: Lightning Razors!" _Runa shouted, letting the bugs envelop her before activating her jutsu. '_Well that did it.' _She thought, not seeing the real Shino barely an arm away from her back.

Yoa gripped the front of Omoi's flack jacket with his right hand, carrying him up above the ground.  
Omoi felt he was somewhat wrong with his previous assessment, he was telling his body to move but the order was lagging, he'd already reached for his sword and swung if he were one hundred percent right now.

Yoa started to gather his metal debris around his left arm, eyes were locked on Omoi's. He wanted blood and wanted it now; on the corner of his eye he could see the Konoha Kunoichi running circles around Kaori, trying to pierce through her defense while Kaori settled _just_ for deflecting the projectiles…

On the other he saw Runa getting rid of the bugs, but he also saw a figure reappearing behind Runa.

Shino extended a single finger towards Runa, ready to let his Venomous Kikaichū do its job for him. Right until a body literally slammed on his side and knocked him down and away from Runa.

The leader from Amegakure turned around once she heard the hit, Omoi's body was sprawled over Shino's a good few feet away from her. Yoa had gotten her back that time, literally throwing Omoi like a ragdoll towards Shino… It only made her feel more guilty to know that even in his irate state he had her back still.

Ino smirked, she was more than handling her own against this Amegakure girl… '_Really I don't get what the fuss is about with these Ame Team…' _Ino threw yet another set of throwing stars, all of them getting deflected by Kaori. '_Hah! I got her on her heels now…'_

Then Ino stopped in her tracks, positioning her hands in a triangle, locking Kaori's figure right in the middle of it, Ino smirked wolfishly.

"_Mind Body Switch Te-" _Ino's words were cut by a Kunai slashing her calf, making her lose balance.

Runa attacked right after her Kunai, slashing her other calf with the Katana, Ino plopped to the ground as small puddles of blood formed under each foot.

"_Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Beheading!" _Omoi's voice raged through, slashin Runa's face across the chin and nose.

Runa stuttered backwards after she felt the stinging cut of Omoi, she licked the blood that ran down her lip and smirked. "Second Date, right?" She locked eyes with Omoit before clashing swords against him, landing a hard kick on his bruised sternum once their swords were locked.

Ino was actively trying to heal her tendons; she _had_ to get up and help Omoi...!  
But just when she felt ready to step up she felt a strong heel smash her ankle completely, breaking the bone under it.

Yoa twisted his foot on the joint, not batting an eye to Ino's wail of pain. He looked over to Kaori and stared _her_ down. Silently communicating more than enough.

"_Iron Mountain Leaning!" _Two of Shino's bug clones slammed into Yoa, removing him away from Ino. Shino then jumped between his clones and faced the Magnet Release user.

"_Spindle Formation!" _Shino yelled, his two clones becoming wild spyrals of bugs that lunged right at Yoa. Soon after Shino himself joined the attack, not giving Yoa an inch to attack, keeping him on the defense.

Kaori stood there after Yoa's glare; now she knew what he'd felt when she looked at him that way. How deeply it hurt, and Kaori's feet couldn't move from their place, not even after that; it only served as yet _another_ reminder of what had happened to her control.

Omoi was meeting every swing from Runa, his complete attention was on her and her moves… and her mouth. She was annoyingly talkative when it came to battle.

"Come on, tough guy. That all you got?—" Runa weaved down, hitting Omoi's chin with the butt of her Katana, making him lose his footing for a second. "—_Here I was getting all roused up!"  
_  
Runa gritted her last words of effort before purposely slamming his blade to Omoi's one, releasing her grip on the weapon and letting it spin mid-air; meanwhile her hands went through her hand-seals.

"_Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spears!" _Runa shouted before catching her Katana back behind Omoi.

Omoi barely had the presence of mind to stop the spike coming out right between his legs, searching to hit his groin with all its might.

"_Oops." _Runa taunted the man before giving him a scar of his own after slashing up his back, trickles of blood running down his clothing after his groan of pain.

Shino was proving to be more than capable at Taijutsu, and Yoa was realizing it more by the second, he had to dodge two swarms of flesh-eating-venomous bugs coming his way _AND_ parry the blows from his actual human foe. He was growing tired of it.

Yoa pushed away of Shino after parrying a punch of the Aburame and pushing his heel off of Shino's chest to gain some space.

"_**Magnet Release: Sandpaper Jutsu!**_"

A _wild_ flurry of metallic shards manifested almost instantly, every shard minuscule and sharper than any razor. The dark dismantlingly-cutting waves of metal cut right through every single one of Shino's bugs and enveloped him simultaneously.

Shino didn't have time to mourn his bugs, he felt cut after cut open his flesh, completely ripping apart his fingers and toes, arms and legs getting attacked by dozen after dozen of cuts, he could feel his bugs literally dripping out of the gashes opening all over his body; if it was someone else it'd be their guts dripping out and he knew it, it'd be a liver, and kidneys, and a heart.  
Shino felt his sight get obscured as more and more of the bugs that lived inside him left his body, he felt his back hit the floor and his consciousness slowly drift away…

Yoa looked down at his victim, taking in the sight for one second before redirecting his gaze to another objective...

Omoi didn't even see the shadow of the man approach.

**End of Day Two**

**.**

**_To be continued..._**

**Note: **Somehow this one proved very difficult to write. I can't promise Chapter 8 to arrive next week, so enjoy this one! I'll upload the eighth asap.


	9. Day Three: 'The Splash I Will Create'

**Disclaimer**: I, the author of this story, do not own 'Naruto', in any of its forms, nor do I own it's characters, places, general plot or illustrations. Any character presented here not found in the original Manga or Anime of 'Naruto', was created by this writer and was in no way borrowed or stolen from another person's creation or work. Any similarities with both real people and/or existent fictional characters is purely coincidental, and unintentional.  
**Author's Note: **I thank you all for the patience you've had waiting for this chapter. I went through a rough patch in real life ever since I was writing the last part of Chapter 7; and it dragged for the month later.  
But no worry! This story still remains a priority, won't be rushed, and will be seen to its end. I believe it won't take me as long to publish Chapter 9; but if it does I just ask for your patience. Here you go!

* * *

**From Rain To Rust**

**Chapter Eight**

_**Day Three: 'The Splash I Will Create'**_

Naruto's life had never been easy, pretty far from it actually. Being an antagonizing presence somehow was a constant all throughout his life—one he learned to live with—thing is; you can make amends with being _born_ with a target on your back from something you never had a say in the first place; you can learn sooner or later that whatever it is that people hate you for isn't _actually_ your fault—admittedly it doesn't make the pain or the solitude any easier to bear—but even when you have no idea of why you are being ostracized you know deep down that it is them who are wrong, not you...

This time it was different.

Because this time Naruto was being hated for something he decided to do, for something he _wanted_ to do, for something he was being lauded for even to this day; that was a hard thing to come to terms with.  
Being a Ninja was awfully hard on you if you were one of the few who deep down have a pure and gentle heart—and Naruto has that—killing is part of the way of life, taking a life is something you're taught to do since the moment you can hold a Kunai; and Naruto never ran away from that knowledge or from the responsibilities that came with it all, he always had a dream to become the greatest Hokage the world had ever seen; and in order to do so he needed to become and do anything that was necessary for him to reach that point.

For better or for worse that meant murdering.

And one of those Naruto murdered was named Nagato (or Pain, as his people knew him). Everything related to that particular situation was beyond complicated for Naruto himself, Nagato had been the man that murdered his own menthor in cold blood! The man that raised him and saved him from the horrors of war and abuse, _Jiraiya; _the man that had entrusted Nagato in his heart to be the child of the prophecy…

Naruto himself had been close to the Pervy Sage himself… _Too close… _The more he grew as a person, the more people started to fill the holes in the family that Naruto never had; there was an assortment of parental figures in his life: Iruka-Sensei, Kakashi-Sensei, to an extent even Teuchi-san...!

But '_The Pervy Sage'_ was special… he filled a void in Naruto's life that to this day he can't successfully put into words. And the moment Naruto heard about his death the demon inside him wanted vengeance the same way any mourning Ninja would… The difference is that Naruto knew how to grow past that, past the hatred and the anger.  
Many would either happily put Nagato's death on Nagato's own shoulders after his sacrifice; or they'd saunter around parading themselves as the hero who murdered Pain…

Naruto was neither.

He took the responsibility that came with beating Nagato, Naruto did put the death of Nagato on his own shoulders; but he never waved the deed as proof of his goodness, rather it was more one of the many necessary evils he had to cope with along the way.

But now he was being hated for that same deed; he was being pointed at and singled out for killing a person that not only threatened to destroy his home place from existence, that had already killed persons dear to him and injured many others, but also threatened to kill him, kill every single person alive that meant something to him and literally keep this vile chain of mass murdering for as long as widespread as his particular goals deemed necessary!

"Is it true, Kakashi Sensei?" Naruto asked softly from his chair across the Hokage's desk. "Is it true that people keep dying in Amegakure ever since Nagato's death?"

Kakashi had been warned by Shikamaru that akin to this particular 'meeting' would occur sooner or later; that Naruto wasn't able to completely shake off what had happened just before the beginning of the First Test… And how could he?

"Would you believe me if I told you otherwise?" The Rokudaime Hokage asked the young man before him.

Naruto didn't respond.

"Things like these happen in war, Naruto. They happen before, during, and _after_ war." Kakashi continued. "They happen particularly with places like Ame, places that were built and erected from conflict itself; places that have constantly struggled since their inception."

"We know now about the secrets Amegakure hid, there was a reason and a sense to make out of their decision to be veiled by secrecy all along; even during their most apparent prosperity, Amegakure constructed the better of it as a front to keep other villages from trying to seize the control; we know now that Hanzo was only able to ensure the safety over the village _before_ he started taking the extreme measures he took to ensure its and his own security." Kakashi laid out the facts they had at hand to Naruto.

"Pain attacked and seized the Village to himself not only because he was beyond capable of it; but because he knew that the fall of Ame was to come anyway..."

"But if we knew their fall was coming why didn't we do anything?" Naruto asked, though he knew the answer to his question already.

Kakashi sighed softly, a show of endearment and reflection in the same breath. "Because if anything; Amegakure's demise worked in favor of the interests of the Daimyo, the Hokage, and the Hidden Leaf Village..." The Hokage purposely put it as flatly and 'professionally' as it was possible, but the message more than got across.

Naruto didn't feel any better after the conversation; if anything it only served to further confirm the answers that Shikamaru had already told him, to know that the Village stood behind the decision to let hundreds—if not thousands—of innocent people die sickened him to the core.  
To think about all those orphans like himself that maybe didn't have the luck to control chakra and therefore instead of a life of duty, mentorship, and opportunities got sentenced to search for scraps on a dumpster; made him want to throw up.  
To think about the innumerable crimes that young women, kids, and elders endured right before their lives were taken from them made Naruto want to shed a tear…

At least until his former Sensei, one of the men he looked up to as a figure to follow laid out a truth for him that froze his blood.

"And soon enough, _Naruto_." Kakashi's voice raised a single level to better get the attention of the war hero. "It will be _**you **_who will have the responsibility to take such decisions for the betterment of the Village…"

For once in his life Naruto didn't look forward to becoming a Hokage.

* * *

"Make sure you look out for any trace of foes before settling in."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Understood."

Leadership was completely new for Chōjūrō; it went without saying how capable the swordsman was in all endeavors of the ninja life, whether it was diplomacy, execution, planification, strategy, or counseling—even teaching—Chōjūrō had it all.  
But even if one traced his illustrious trayectory all the way back to his early Academy days he was never _the_ leader—yes, every now and then people looked to him in search of support as anyone ever did to prodigies like himself—but he was never _**the**_ figure, especially when it came to the costumes and traditions of Kirigakure and its ninjas; the legacy of the '_Bloody Mist' _left little to no good, Chōjūrō knew just by looking at the Ninjas that were above him throughout his career; the exceptions were minimal, but outside of those, the older Chūnin and Jōnin from Kiri were ruthless, asympathetic, cold-hearted and blood-lusted… Even if you were a prodigy like himself—and for better or for worse Chōjūrō never recognized himself as one, all the contrary—you weren't to be trusted any sort of responsibility or leadership position until there was absolutely no doubt by those above you that you _deserved_ it.

The Godaime Mizukage was a different story.

Lady Terumī might very well be the mightiest of the Mizukages... Correction: Lady Terumī _**is**_ the mightiest and the strongest of the Mizukages, she may even be the strongest out of her generation of the Five Kages.

But one thing that separated her from most of the other Kages of her generation was the fact that she was _actively_ looking for a change, she was aware of the infamy that came with the mention of Kirigakure, of the savagery that breeded all those who grew up to become the most well-known Shinobi from Kiri. And to this day she is searching for herself and her village to detach themselves from the horrors and crimes of her past…

That was the reason Chōjūrō was handpicked by Mei Terumī to be her retainer and right hand, because the moment she'd laid eyes on the lanky boy who showed every possible sign of submission forcefully drilled into his skull she knew there was untapped potential yet to be reckoned. She saw what could one day grow up to be Kirigakure's next savior…

But now it was up to him; nothing was ever given in Kirigakure, not now and sure as hell not back in the Bloody Mist, Chōjūrō had to prove himself, to bring down every barrier in front of him, to drag the weight of the world forward, Chōjūrō had to _lead, _to _guide_, to _**win**_.

So far so good.

Team Mist encountered a couple of teams right at the beginning of the Exams, 'decimation' would be a cruel world to describe what happened back then (though not an inaccurate one); and Chōjūrō looked and performed like an absolute powerhouse. It was surreal to see what he'd done to entire teams on his own; and his teammates were noticing just that.

"Captain." Team Mist's medical ninja Kiri called. "I believe we're all settled so far, the idea to move at night and keep the rest for the morning has proven solid."

"Hai!" Chōjūrō was still having troubles having to acostume to even being called 'Captain', but the unfamiliarity was just internal. So far he'd proven to be an exemplary captain. "We'll take rounds just like we've done the past couple of nights; Kiri will sleep first so he can be in top shape in case any of us needs medical attention, meaning Ruka and I will take first guard, having the second biggest stamina out of the three of us you should be able to engage in fight with little sleep if needed;" their leader looked over to the Kunoichi "then Ruka will sleep and Kiri and I will take the second guard—" Their Captain consciously paid them their due. "—and I'll take the last spot so we can keep moving once I awake. Any questions?"

"None, Captain." Ruka shook her head and replied with her back straight and head up, considering her captain's performance it was easy to get upstaged; but Ruka herself was proving uncanny control and power for someone using a single Chakra Nature, and getting the slightest compliment from her Captain edge her on to continue the same way.

"We'll follow your lead, Chōjūrō-San." Kiri nodded with a subtle smile before redirecting the same expression to Ruka. Kiri might be the oldest and most experienced, but realization was hitting him that the next litter of Shinobi had power beyond anyone had seen for generations; they might not be Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju; but if they kept improving and advancing the way Kiri was witnessing then older Ninjas like himself would have no use anymore.

Chōjūrō locked eyes with his team and sent them on their duties.

* * *

Konoha spared no expense when it came to this event; the modernization and globalization proved monetarily rewarding for a big and productive country like the Fire Country; they had insurmountable amounts of natural resources—whether it was minerals, flora and fauna destined for consumption, or even energy and transport—to export to other territories, the peace treaty signed among the nations allowed for immigration to take part in the new world order, and more than enough people were interested in taking place in Konoha; and Konoha was happy to take them on, it only meant more productivity, more services, more economic development… Everything was thriving for Konoha.

And since this was a huge event in the eyes of pretty much _everyone_ who had eyes; Konoha built an edifice specifically designed to house the dignitaries and special guests from the Five Great Nations, there were four wings specially and specifically decorated and designed to fit the costumes and living accommodations of each Village and Country, a single massive dining area with cuisine from every part of the continent available at hand's reach, a meeting and briefing area for the delivery of any information relevant to the Exams or the Shinobi Union; and there were of course more down-to-earth simple areas, like a common room for anyone to sit down and either enjoy a good chat with a fellow—or in the Sandaime Tsuchikage's case—rest his old bones down… Of course the Kages themselves had a whole floor to themselves with installations to accompany them and just them, god forbid they socialized with any of the lower Shinobi.

Ōnoki was not only looking for physical rest and relief… The stress of diplomacy and politics took a toll even on the youngest and healthiest of men; and Ōnoki was truthfully well past his prime, being a man of literally another time came with the disadvantages of having to accommodate to the constant flow of the world, even this facility in its entirety proved overwhelming for the Tsuchikage, be it by accident or not, a show of economic power like the design and creation of this palace was too on the nose for every other Village.

"Oh—" Mei Terumī stood just by the entrance of the common room. "—Tsuchikage-Sama, it wasn't my intention to interrupt your rest." The Mizukage nodded to the man across the room. "I'll take my leave."

Ōnoki smiled and even chuckled aloud for a second. "Please, Lady Terumī—" Ōnoki extended his hand over to the space around them. "—join me, leave the resting for the elders and the ill."

The Mizukage huffed a short laugh before walking over where her fellow Kage sat; she took a seat on a couch adjacent to the armchair Ōnoki rested on.

"I presume you are finding our lodgings as accommodating as I have, Lady Terumī." Ōnoki lightly joked with a grin.

The Mizukage let out a deep breath of amusement and laughed with it. "I am sure our hosts had the best intentions in mind, Tsuchikage-Sama." Mei replied honestly; though having a Village on her back that was working on self-rehabilitation and rebuilding even _**before**_ the Shinobi World War commenced did manage to make the legendary kunoichi roll her eyes at the 'unnecessary' opulence.

Ōnoki shared a laugh with the Mizukage, really it was all in good nature, and the Mizukage was right, they couldn't blame one of their fellow allies for thriving, and it wasn't like Konoha was the only one thriving in this new world; once the unnecessary competition between the nations was erased and treaties and accords flew left and right, **every **Village was thriving; some more than others, that was true. But no one in the Shinobi Union was having a hard time, they all were relishing in the breath of fresh air that fortunately aided them.

"I'm sure you're right, Mizukage-Sama." Ōnoki uttered, taking a couple of seconds of silenced before reinitiating the conversation. "How are you finding the participants' abilities in the first test?" Ōnoki asked, somehow hiding the amusement he had from being actually able to watch the participants with his own eyes… Technology had its perks.

Mei Terumī had to admit she didn't _expect_ a man like Ōnoki to bother with new tech enough to watch the transmissions… but she wouldn't say so out loud.

"I must say I haven't checked in the last few hours—" She stated as she pondered the question for a second. "—up to where I've watched I'd say I'm not too impressed."

That particular statement completely caught the Tsuchikage's attention, he knew the Mizukage sent a team that was handpicked by herself, and he also knew there were Shinobi more than mighty that were partaking in the exams, Shinobi that were widely showcased in the public transmissions.

"What do you mean you're not impressed, Mizukage-Sama?" Ōnoki asked non-threatenly "Do you find the participants underwhelming? Or the test as a whole? Or…"

"It's not any of that." Mei replied off-handedly. "I've seen the abilities of lots of the Chūnin in the Exams first hand, I saw them fight in the war in _**real**_ life-or-death situations; they did impress me back then, they far surpassed any expectations I had of them."

"And they don't impress you anymore, Lady Terumī?"

"Oh, but they do!" The Mizukage laughed lightly. Seeing her point wasn't getting across. "I merely think that the results so far are '_unsurprising'_ for me; we all knew the first couple of days most of the teams would fail; we spent months of planning making sure of that."

Ōnoki found himself focusing more on the words of the Kage beside him, finding himself being somewhat played by the discourse of the younger woman.

"And those results are, Terumī-Sama?"

"We are watching the next great group of leaders and warriors, Ōnoki-Sama. These right here are those that will be entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the Shinobi World from the evils that _**will **_become them." The Godaime Mizukage spoke with her chin resting on both her joined hands, staring right ahead in deep thought as her Iwagakure counterpart listened patiently and respectfully. "There is no longer any room for error, no room for shortcomings or underachievers; the world can no longer be trusted to hold its own weight above their heads, the only thing that the Great War showcased was that there are beings out there that far surpass any and every expectation of power itself as we'd ever imagined it. We saw that those long thought dead who we called myths, legends, _gods _even; can simply come back to life if one Shinobi capable enough has enough hate and determination inside their heart to bring them back in a whim." Mei Terumī turned her gaze over to Ōnoki. "I ask you, Tsuchikage-Sama:"

Ōnoki's features were hardened by the discourse of Mei Terumī… Because she was right; because even as the majority of the people out there saw this era as the one for elation and celebration, for _relief_; there were some that—like the Mizukage—never lost their footing, that never lost sight of just the sheer overwhelming reality of what had happened a mere couple of years ago; of the idea that _**life itself**_ as they all knew it was a _miracle_ apart from forever being lost. "I'm listening, Lady Terumī."

"After all this that I've told you:" Mei took a second to let her words sink in. "Do the contestants '_impress'_ you? Would you say any of them might last half a minute in a fight with those legends, and gods, and myths? Would _Kurotsuchi?_ Would you right now entrust her with single-handedly safekeeping the future of Iwagakure for the next age? Has she _'impressed'_ you?" The Mizukage new that those were questions that on any other time and age would be enough to start an armed conflict between the two nations, that in the best case scenario her words would be received as cutting and daring.

Ōnoki's features didn't shift in the least throughout her questioning, his face as hard as the stones he and his people used as weapons of mass destruction. He was in deep thought.  
'_Would he?' _was the question to answer… and he had no answer that was sufficient or comforting, it was one thing to look at this Exams as what they were, a Rank testing; but if one saw this as the battleground for the next group of legendary Shinobi that'd themselves be known as the stuff of legend, of myth, to be regarded as Gods on earth come to save their people? Then the bar was raised at insurmountable heights.

Ōnoki knew that himself, and Mei Terumī, and the Fourth Raikage A, and Gaara, and Tsunade of the Legendary Senin _**had failed**_ to reach that bar. That even when the Mizukage herself didn't say so out loud _their failure _was the fact that kept her from seeing all of this as nothing but the Test of the Fittest. Ōnoki could do nothing but lock his eyes with those of the Mizukage.

"How many future Kages are watching right here, Lord Ōnoki?" Mei Terumī questioned once again. "One? Two? The Five?"

"Are we sure they'd not only beat _**ourselves**_, but what we fought back in the war as well? Or will places like Kirigakure and Iwagakure keep relying on being saved by two Genins from Konoha?"

Ōnoki held the Mizukage's gaze even as her head turned back again to that particular spot on the wall that had sparked all of this reasoning from her.

"So 'no' would be my answer, Tsuchikage-Sama. I am not yet impressed by the contestants of the First Test."

* * *

Her sensory skills were one of the best in all of her Village; they may even be the best out of the whole ANBU; which in an environment like this one made her by far the Apex Predator amongst her peers.

And considering she held the lead of most teams taken down on her own; one could safely assume her reputation and 'Apex' title wasn't unearned.  
She made quick work, she didn't waste time trying to look good, didn't try to be flashy, there was nothing to prove to anyone who was or wasn't watching her; she'd been assigned a mission and she'd take it as seriously as any mission should be taken.  
This wasn't a vacation nor a playground; recent events showed that if you came here expecting young pushovers to play around with; then you'd end up with a broken skull or immolated and trapped in a hole on the ground.

Yūgao Uzuki intended to be neither.

"_Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu" _Yūgao's voice could barely be heard amongst the rustling forest, though she remained hidden in the shadows, there was still enough daylight to account for shadows under the trees.

"Hey, Ruka did you hear-" Team Mist's captain was about to ask his teammate before a creature came exploding right out of the ground, snatching the sleeping Kiri by the middle with its foot long claws, Kiri's first instinct was to use the length of his body across the hole to pose some resistance; but the moment the creature _really _tugged him, Kiri's bones cracked as his body was forced to fit the hole the summoned creature had pulled him under.

"_Kiri-!" _Chōjūrō cried out as he took hold of his Hiramekarei leaping over to stand back to back with Ruka, he needed to keep control of the situation even when one of his partners got taken down.

"Ruka, flood the hole-!" Chōjūrō ordered the Kunoichi who was already going through the hand seals.

"On it!" Ruka called. "_Water Style: Torrent Bullet!" _Ruka shouted before instantly summoning a massive stream of water and jetting it through the hole.

"_Dance of the Crescent Moon!" _Yūgao shouted as she sprinted out of the shadows to slash Ruka's midsection.

Chōjūrō's movements were flash-quick as he handled the Hiramekarei; swatting Yūgao's Katana upwards and pivoting over to swing diagonally across Yūgao's shoulder.

As soon as the blade made contact Yūgao's figure disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Yūgao reappeared behind Chōjūrō and stabbed forward with her Katana right at Chōjūrō's spine. Chōjūrō pressed his own sword to the ground to use it as propulsion to somersault backwards and above Yūgao.

"_Water Style: Whirlpool Funeral!" _Chōjūrō called as he went through his handseals before he saw Yūgao's sword not stopping its path.

"_Roundmoon!" _Yūgao shouted as she shifted her stabbing motion into a full circling slash; the edge of the Katana cutting right through the right side of Ruka's torso.

As always it all happened in slow motion for the attacked Ruka, she felt the sting of the cut and her tight muscles snapping like butter under the edge of the blade, she turned around as quickly as she could, but once Yūgao's circling motion came to an end the blade's path came downwards to the side of Rukas right knee.

'_Dammit!' _Chōjūrō's mind reeled in mid-air as he saw Ruka kneel down from the impact, her face still fierce and looking for a defence as Yūgao's Moon Dance retreated back to the ANBU agent to re-initiate her motions.

"_Water Style Whirlpool Funeral!" _Chōjūrō's handseals finished as a violent torrent of water shot out of the Hiramekarei in Yūgao's direction. She tried to avoid it with a wide side-step but the sheer power of the splash the flying whirlpool caused at impact on the ground was enough to send the ANBU flying backwards 20 feet.

"Don't worry, Captain!" Ruka shouted from her spot on the ground; drenched from the splashes of water from Chōjūrōs jutsu, and still with one knee on the ground from the cut-off tendons of her knee. She needed to get up and keep going; the jet stream she'd sent inside the whole Kiri had gone into did little to no good to find the source.  
She couldn't go down just because of an ambush, a simple cut shouldn't keep her out of combat… Even if that 'simple' cut was accompanied by the profuse bleeding of her right side and the blurring of her vision.

"Hang on, Ruka!" Chōjūrō rushed over to her as soon as his feet hit the ground.

"I'm okay, Captain!" Ruka stood up with all the strength remaining on her legs. She saw the worried features of their leader incoming and _**knew**_ she couldn't be the disappointment of the squad; she'd fight and beat whomever had the guts to attack them like that and she'd go and find Kirir before anything happened to him! "Don't worry about me!" Ruka grounded herself once again and shot a small reassuring smile towards Chōjūrō.

Chōjūrō responded to Ruka's smile with one of his own.  
They were good; they'd lost one comrade but they'd find him ASAP, Ruka and himself would be more than enough to overpower this ANBU hunter; they were fine, his team was fine, Kiri would be fine, they'd find him and it would be fine. They were smashing these Exams! They were going to-

"_Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" _Yūgao screamed as quickly as she possibly could just as she rushed to stand up and grab her Katana once again.

Chōjūrō looked back at Yūgao and knew she'd be right with them in a second. But he was already a step away from Ruka, they needed to regroup and attack; he turned back to Ruka and jumped forward to cut the distance, Ruka herself extending her hand forward and wincing at the pain it caused on her right side.

'_Just one inch!' _Chōjūrō mentally screamed as hi index, middle, and ring finger hooked firmly with Ruka's; they both shared a brief smile as Chōjūrō tugged her to him…

Only for them to have the same 7 foot badger from before dig his foot long claws right on the flesh of each of Ruka's hips, Ruka screamed from the pain his body felt once the sharp-digging claws reached the bare bone of her hips.

Chōjūrō's eyes steeled and tugged at Ruka's hand as hard as he could… but his grip wasn't good enough, he felt the muscles of his arm strain with effort as the beast shot down below at insurmountable speed and strength with Ruka firmly in its grasp.

The last thing Chōjūrō saw as his fingers and Ruka's disjointed from each other was the sheer realization in his partner's face… the realization that she'd failed.

* * *

Sai groaned hoarsely as his eyes fluttered open, but he almost wished his eyes hadn't opened when the white lights of one the med-bay's room hit him right in the _head…_

His brain immediately complained from the forced stimulus and let Sai know with a blinding headache, he could almost hear his ears ring all over again…

'_Again…?'_

Sai opened his eyes again and fought through the migraine. He looked around the room, he was in a hospital bed, he was hooked to a couple of monitors and an IV, though none of it seem serious enough to warrant being called 'life support' or even 'intensive care'.

He had to remember…

"The team from Amegakure…" Sai muttered, the memories suddenly coming back to him as his head kept filing complaints for him to ease the workload down. He used his left hand to massage his temple and brow for a second… it was somewhat hazy, but he remembered everything well enough.

Sai's head whipped around to see if there was someone on the bed beside him, he even sat up over to lean and get a better look past the curtain… but there was no one. "Where's my partner…?"

"Dead." The voice of Temari replied over the door as she and Darui entered the room.

Sai must have been really out of it to get sneaked around so easily. "Temari? Am I in the control tower?"

"Yes." Temari answered once again as she closed the door behind them. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh… I…" Sai was trying to gather himself. "My partner? You said he died?"

"Yes, he-"

"He got _murdered." _Darui interrupted Temari on purpose. He noticed Temari's resolve waver just a little bit as the sight of a close friend like Sai came into view.

"_Murdered?"_ Sai questioned as he sat up straighter. It couldn't be… "Was it the Chūnin Team? The team from Amegakure?"

"It was." Darui replied briefly.

Temari glared at Darui for less than a second… it was noticeable that their difference of opinion when it came to this particular matter remained.

Sai knew more than anyone else how easy was to get killed when you were a Special Hunter, he should've gotten all the answers he needed the moment he heard Temari's first word.  
But he couldn't; Sai was the leader of the duo, the man under him died under _his_ command, and he was an elite ninja just like him, maybe just as capable, a brother in arms; if he got murdered then his death was squarely on Sai's shoulders.

"But he was on his own feet when I got knocked out, he was gaining ground on the swordsman just before I went out." Sai argued.

"Swords_woman_, actually." Darui deadpanned just before Temari shot him a piercing glare… "Sorry…" Darui conceded as he looked over at Sai.

Sai didn't seem fazed by Darui's interejection, instead he looked at Temari for answers.

"We've been checking the film from the cameras ever since." Temari explained. "It was a ruse, the girl played him from the moment he summoned the mist. The one he was fighting was only a clone. He got trapped in a Headhunter Jutsu and then… That's why we came to talk with you."

"Why?"

"Because he got _executed." _Temari deadpanned.

"Once he got trapped the girl you were fighting with—the one in the Kimono—she seemed to lose it. This didn't seem premeditated, her partners seemed to be ready to leave once they trapped him; they seemed to fight her about it, maybe they tried to stop her we don't know, the audio isn't very good on that one." Darui explained. "But she immolated him, we've never seen a technique work like that, the flames themselves seemed different the color, the way they behaved-"

"They were." Sai nodded. "They _are_." Sai corrected himself. "And not only her and her flames." Sai reasoned. "That whole team seems different."

"Different how?" Temari questioned him with scrunched eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, friend, I don't know if I can put it in words…" The Jōnin replied. "They seem more skilled than they let on—but even if they are—they fight 'different'; they're not orthodox, they don't seem to attain to the same instincts most Shinobi do. I'm not even sure the one to worry most about is the girl that murdered the Kiri Hunter."

Both Temari and Darui were glad that Sai was joining their train of thought; it went unsaid, but all this circus wouldn't have happened had the team that'd done it were from one of the Shino Union's Nations; because it wouldn't pose something uncertain, it wouldn't be a subject of concern because the team and its members would be already known enough to realize why and how this all had happened.

But whenever a group of three skilled Ninja let themselves be known in a battlefield of any kind for the first time then they rarely posed anything other than trouble.

"Then who would you say _is?" _Darui chimed in.

"Neither and all of them." Sai replied as best as he could. "I personally can tell you that my level of effort and skill kept rising through the fight; I didn't see them as immediate threats from the beginning—" He confessed his error. "—but the more we fought the more serious I took it all, after the Magnet Release user hurt my knee I started to take it like a serious fight."

"How serious?" Temari asked, knowing Sai wasn't even close to a pushover, as much as she hated to admit it, he might even be a step above her when it came to skill and power.

Sai looked over to both of them and smiled on of his signature expressions. "_Life or death."_

* * *

"_Nice work, Mujina!" _Yūgao called from under her mask even when her Badger partner went unseen once again. She smirked under the mask that bore the same three red markings that were present on the fur of her summoned creature.

Chōjūrō was on the ground, breathing heavily as he stared right down at the hole where the last of his partners disappeared, no sight of Ruka that deep into Mujina's tunnel.

And just like that Chōjūrō had failed at his first moment as a leader; from his _**stupid**_ decision of resting in the day, leaving his teammate vulnerable to the attack, to his unpreparedness to act once they were attacked, to his lack of strenght, speed and resolve to save Ruka when he had her within arm's reach… Chōjūrō now knew why he'd never been entrusted with _anything_ his whole life. Because he wasn't _**fit**_ to lead.

Only he was.

And not because of him. Not because of Ruka or Kiri who had entrusted their lives to him with complete faith. But because of **Mei Terumī**; because it was _**she**_ who saw someone in him ever since they met, because it's _**her**_ that's the best Mizukage to have ever donned the robes, because she's _**his **_MIzukage, _**his **_leader, _**his **_teacher, _**his**_ idol.

Because she's been let down over and over by the people she breaks her back over and over to save, because he's not gonna let his Mizukage down anymore. Not **now**, not **ever**!

Chōjūrō clenched his fist and clenched his jaw; he stood up and gripped the Hiramekarei so tight the handle complained with the sound friction; he set his eyes on Yūgao and let the bandaging around the twinblades fall apart, holding one of each of the twins in each hand.

Yūgao jumped right ahead to end this, one more mark to her record, one more victory.

"_Hazy Moon Night!" _Yūgao growled, swinging her sword at an unbelievable speed, enough for the after images of the blade to form around her body as she swung frontwards; she'd never lost a fight after using this technique, she'd beaten Shinobis far above her level with this move. And this time would be no different.

Chōjūrō deflected the dozens of swings that Yūgao was delivering _each second_, he was walking backwards as she gained ground; his twin blades making quick work of deflecting her attacks.  
Chōjūrō waited till she lost her stamina and speed... and once she did:

"My turn." Chōjūrō sneered as cold as ice; counter attacking with twice, then thrice, then four, then five times more attacks per second than Yūgao, the strength of his swings making her feet back down with each contact, denting her cold rolled blade over and over again; Yūgao counter attacked with slash of her sword only to have it be single-handedly broken by Chōjūrō's left blade as if it was mere glass, then swinging the one on the righ hand over her face to cut her mask in half and slice her features right across the face.

Yūgao ended on the ground with the last blow—Chōjūrō's moves lacked any effort, he'd blasted her sword with a swing of his wrist, not even shifting his footing; he'd slashed her face as if it was a feather he held, and not a longblade—he left her face bare and bleeding, her weapon of choice long forgotten, his figure towering over her, and her companion... "_Mujina! __Headhunter Jutsu!" _Yūgao called feebly, using her last resort.

Chōjūrō stared Yūgao down, calmly joining the twin swords up above his head and waiting till the ground under his feet rumbled with movement; waiting only a second before he swung his weapon down...

**"_Hiramekarei: Unleash."_**

**End of Day Three**

**.**

**_To be continued..._**

**Note: **Thank you for reading; a special 'thank you' to those who reviewed and/or sent Private Messages, you all keep this going.


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